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Metro Plus
Going Nature's way
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With increasing awareness of the hazards of consuming food sprayed with chemical fertilizers and herbicides, organic farming seems to be a safer and healthier option. GEETA PADMANABHAN writes...
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Have you selected the vegetables and measured out the rice for the morning's cooking? Wait. Behind the bright brinjal, glistening bitter gourd, fleshy tomato and the fine-grained rice is a bunch of unpalatable truths. With expertise and love, you could be serving your family dishes laced with polydol, aldrin, dieldrin and DDT — they are carcinogenic. Rice and vegetable skins absorb them from fertilizers and herbicides they are liberally sprayed with. Butter inherits them from the fodder the cow chews. A study conducted in Bangalore found that washing or even cooking does not fully remove them.
Alarmed? You have reason to be. Herbicide spraying fills air with toxins. Chemical fertilizers seep into the nearby water bodies. Their repeated use wastes the soil necessitating more fertilizers thus pushing up costs. And studies in the U.S. have linked food allergies and autism to the increase in chemical use in food production.
``Residues of brain-damaging pesticides have been found in mother's milk. No food item is safe for our children,'' warns Dr. K. Vijayalakshmi, director, Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS), which runs training programmes on organic gardening. ``Where are the safeguards against contamination?''
Chennai is slowly waking up to this avatar of food poisoning. Experts at a workshop conducted by the Shri Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre (MCRC) a couple of months ago, were emphatic about the need to grow food the natural way. Convert to farm manure, bio-control of pests (spraying ash, neem or tobacco solution), companion planting (cowpea with cotton), intercropping to trap insects and introduction of beneficial microbes and fungus, they advised. And dig up our old friends — the earthworms.
To Dr. Sultan Ismail, deputy director, MCRC, earthworms are not `worms underfoot' but helpers of soil fertility and promoters of plant growth. ``The 509 species of worms are our farmer's greatest assets,'' says Dr. Ismail. ``And they die of pesticides. What we do is ugliculture."
That organic methods of farming improve the quality of the soil is no surprise. Farmers have always known that adding plant and animal waste to the soil improves it. Biological sources supply adequate amounts of nutrients for healthy growth. This creates an open structure that soaks up water and allows the moisture in the soil to move around so it is easily absorbed by plants reducing energy needs.
Efforts to revive traditional methods of chemical-free farming were undertaken by C.V. Seshadri in the 1970s. He advocated `Peri-urban' agriculture nourished by the aerobic and anaerobic waste the city throws out every day. Since then, a lot of organic farming practices have been rediscovered and propagated in the metropolis. A study by MCRC reveals that 58 per cent of the respondents were aware of the benefits of organic farming and 82 per cent would buy such products if the prices were competitive.
Many of these `bio-techniques' are practised on the Ahimsa Foundation-run farm 85 km south of Chennai. For two years, Surendra Mehta and Krishnan have been trying to make the farm self-sustaining. Oxen till the soil and keep it loose. Fermented `Panchakavyam', vermi compost and oil cakes enrich the soil, groundnut shells and burnt husk create mulch, earth in the cowshed forms the topsoil and ash and plant concoctions are sprayed as pesticides. Double ditches keep away the poison from the adjacent farm. Those who find these organic gems more valuable than the ones sold inside lap up wheat, rice and vegetables grown here at Mehta Jewellery.
But there is a catch. Ironically food grown the organic way is sold in speciality stores as if they are something exotic; they depend on a niche market. And demand a higher price.
Why? Farmers who don't own cattle pay for organic manure. Those who are switching over need four years to break even. Rice has a gestation period before it is sold. ``Farmers have to be paid at once and need an insurance cover during the transition period,'' says Dr. Vijayalakshmi. "Organised conventions can spread information about bio-techniques,'' suggests Ram of Samanvaya, an agro-consultancy firm. "In Erode, bio-fertilizers are used purely for economic reasons. They have realised that the yield is the same while the process is shortened. But farming here is community based. The produce is sold locally,'' is his theory.
"Fencing the gap between the producer and the consumer is the only way to popularise organically grown food,'' says V. Krishnan of Auro Annam, Auroville. ``The farmer must be given a ready market and the consumer assured of regular supply if he has to make a turnabout."
Experts disagree the prices are high. ``We should look at the long term effects of being pumped with toxins,'' points out Ram. ``Once consumers reach a level of awareness, they can form co-operatives and bring reliability to the market."
"Any marketing should have the farmers' welfare in mind,'' warns Dr. Vijayalakshmi. She dreams of small joints, where people can eat idlis and dosas made from organically grown rice and dals. "Let us give the farmers an incentive by paying,'' she argues. Certification by the Government on the lines of Agmark, door delivery and shops selling eco-products are other suggestions.
It is word-of-mouth in the community that will establish markets, says a consumer. He talks of speciality stores that offer massages, classes on right eating, detoxification of the body, yoga, etc. in the U.S.
Organic farming like charity can begin at home. Dr. Ismail would like school books to mention the possibility of growing one's own vegetables in throwaway containers. He recommends kitchen gardens in balconies and rooftops using only the green waste generated in the kitchen. It can be composted in used tyres or even a circle of bricks. ``Grow some earthworms as pets and they will do the rest,'' he says. ``Don't mistake frugality for poverty."
On two counts, organically grown vegetables, fruits and grains are unbeatable. They enjoy a longer shelf life without the unwanted salts (they don't ooze water for which you pay) and they are tasty.
Where to find them
The following are some of the outlets where organic food is available.
— Auro Annam, contact: Mr. Krishna Ph: 461 0077
— Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems, 30, Gandhi Mandapam Road. http://www.ciks.org/arogyam.html Ph:4475862/4471087
— Mehta Jewellery, Thirumalai Pillai Road, T. Nagar. Ph: 8283130
S. Krishnan, Research and Study Centre, 87-B, 143, Lloyds Road Ph: 8115768
Jus' Picked — M.G. Road, Thiruvanmiyur
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