Prutha Goa

For all landowners lamenting the dearth of coconut pluckers, or padekars , and the plight of their coconut plantations, the solution to the problem is a just a click away now. Suprajit Raikar, a resident of Benaulim, has taken a leap of faith, moving from a lucrative profession in the sphere of IT and starting his own business called Padekar.com. The coconut is a staple in the diet of any Goan, be it the famed fish curry or delicacies for a sweet tooth such as doce , dodol , baath , etc. A quintessential Goan meal without the addition of coconut in some form or the other is unthinkable. Nevertheless, recent years have seen a serious decline in the number of coconut pluckers available to carry out the harvesting of tender and ripe coconuts. Suprajit was the president of the NGO DMD (Desi Motorcycle Diaries)-Youth Adventure Club when he became aware of the plight of the coconut pluckers. ‘It was a natural switch over to move from IT to Padekar.com,’ says the thirty two year old entrepren