The second session of the Toddy Tapping Workshop had a great response with more than a dozen new participants joining in. We had two traditional toddy tappers sharing their knowledge with us – Laurence Martins from Tuem and Francis Pereira from Goa Velha.
The session started with Mr Miguel Braganza with his encyclopedic knowledge about agri-flora sharing tips about pest control and general care for the coconut tree.
We then had a session on the toddy tapping process done the traditional way. The participants were given a close view of the live process along with detailed explanations.
There was also a session on coconut tree climbing using the climbing gear with proper safety precautions.
The highlight of the afternoon was the fresh Coconut Toddy available for all to taste. This was followed by a sumptuous lunch of traditional Fish Curry and Rice.
The participants now have an active WhatsApp group where they continue to exchange information and the experts continue to guide them. Some participants are already successfully tapping toddy and we hope to have more successes as we go along.