Panaji: After four decades of single-handedly preserving some of Goa’s heritage rice varieties, 63-year-old seed saver, Joaquim Santana Fernandes has announced that the current agricultural season will be his last.Driven to the brink by an acute labour shortage and soaring operational expenses, Fernandes confirmed that his lifelong crusade to safeguard native paddy strains across 10 hectares in Curtorim and Raia is coming to an abrupt end.“I don’t have children, so there is no one to take this legacy forward. This is my last time doing this,” Fernandes told TOI.Over the last 40 years, Fernandes has served as a living repository for Goa’s vanishing agricultural genetic diversity. While he is best known for conserving Korgut— the salt-tolerant native rice indigenous to Goa’s khazan lands—his fields also nurture rare traditional strains including Asgo, Damgo, Tamdi Sada, and Coddtari, alongside a repository of nearly 16 indigenous varieties cultivated across different patches in the state.However, the harsh economic realities of traditional agriculture have finally caught up. “Farm labourers currently demand up to Rs 1,200 per day, and even at that price, skilled field hands remain virtually unavailable,” he said.Despite his former role as chairperson of the People’s Biodiversity Register committee under the Goa State Biodiversity Board, he chose not to seek state subsidies, calling his conservation work a personal “contribution to society”.With no successor in sight, the impending harvest in early Nov will mark the final chapter for him.
