"The Chikoo festival will be a good weekend getaway for the people of Navi Mumbai and Mumbai to enjoy the Konkan climate at Dahanu and also learn about how the fruit Chikoo is hugely cultivated here," said Poonam Shrungare, a spokesperson of the fest.
Based at the picturesque Bordi Beach in the area, the festival is slated to attract many tourists.
The Chikoo Festival promotes Dahanu more towards Sustainable Progressive Development. Dahanu is a small coastal town and not many are aware of its history and its natural topography. The tribal interiors have rich culture and copiousness art & craft.
MTDC has substantiated the true potency of the region which is constellated with agriculturists, horticulturists, floriculturists, artisans, potters, basket weavers, jewelry die-makers, salt manufacturers, balloon manufactures, toddy tappers and fisher folks apart from primitive activities like boat repairing and net making.
Dr Jagdish Patil, Managing Director of MTDC, said, "It is our great pleasure to be the part of Chikoo Festival. Dahanu taluka is at crossroads - ecologically, socially, culturally; surrounded by the rapidly advancing industrial and commercial metros of Mumbai, Tarapur and Vapi. With over 50% land under fruit orchards, forests & mangroves, this region has a lot to offer through agro-tourism. We want tourist to get a flavor of the indigenous culture of Dahanu and the Chikoo Festival encapsulates the true spirit of the land to its core."
Sanjay Yadavrao, President, Kokan Bhumi Pratisthan, said, "Village tourism has a great potential in Konkan. This provides an ideal getaway to the urban and international tourists to relive a traditional Indian way of living in the natural habitat. We aim to augment the local economy through sustainable tourism through Chikoo Festival."
The local tribal population, the Warlis, constitute 66% of the total population of the Dahanu area.
The festival entertains, educates and sensitizes its visitors. The mission is to create opportunities for individuals and communities to celebrate, share and sustain the arts and the rich cultural traditions of the local area thereby creating alternative sources of income and sustainability.
The events will range from organizing a small fun-fair wherein stalls will be set-up to showcase different offerings; tribal art and craft, agricultural products, fresh fruits & their products, photo exhibition on the region, to outdoor attractions like, Chikoo safari, Warli dance, Parsi and Irani cuisine, visit to weekly bazaar, sans castle competition, kite making and Kite flying, local market visits, bon fire with local cuisine finger foods at the beach, etc.
Dahanu and Talasari are the largest chikoo cultivation areas in Maharashtra followed by Aurangabad region. Around Dahanu there is around 1100 hectare of land under chikoo cultivation of which about 7500 hectare is in and around Dahanu and 3600 in Talasari.
Chikoo is all season fruit and hence faces competition with all other seasonal fruits in terms of market and demand. Fruit cultivation has largely been neglected though it gives production across the seasons. There is little done to encourage this fruit as the demand of chikoo cultivators for setting up APMC in Virar or Vasai was never fulfilled. It could help a lot to the farmers saving their costs on transportation, reduction in wastage and economic pricing etc.
The APMC rate of chikoo varies from Rs 5 to Rs 12 per kg and currently it is traded at Rs 8 per kg.
Chikoo processing is also under developed though there is a large potential market for processed chikoo food. Even the Central Food Research was also approached to improve technology for processing of chikoo which was coming at a very big cost.
With all these limitations, the farmers and small food processors have successfully turned chikoo into a big success story and the region is prosperous. There are many innovations and scientific farming taking place due to the initiatives of locals without any government support.
Chikoo Festival, besides a fanfare is also a testimony of the spirit of these farmers and their vision to develop this region creating awareness about their issues and promoting their food products, produced and branded locally with required testing and quality assurance.
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