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Go organic, for health's sake
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Kochi folks take to fashion by instinct, but why do they neglect the kind of food they eat? Whilst organic vegetables are found in plenty in most metros, Kochi doesn't have any such outlet. PREMA MANMADHAN on the need to go organic
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THE PLANTAINS you get at the vegetable vendors' are huge, have a lovely colour all over, and are worthy of being displayed on the dining table. But the plantains back home in the village, grown in the backyard, are small, ugly, and full of marks.
But what about the taste? The small ugly ones taste great while the pretty city plantains have bulk, but do not taste half as sweet. Therein lies a story, bigger than you can ever imagine. Organic vegetables, fruit, milk, tea, coffee and meat are in great demand in the West because they are not subjected to chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides. While bigger metros have made a beginning to go organic, Kochi is yet to clamour for anything organic yet. But there are people, like Mumtaz, who has lived in Hyderabad and Delhi, who wonder why organic vegetables are not available in the city. "It's not because it is fashionable, but because it is healthy,'' reasons Mumtaz. In the last ten years studies have revealed that the incidence of cancer has doubled in the country. Pesticide residues in vegetables could be a very good reason. That the body absorbs what one eats is a proven truth. So how can we doubt the fact that chemically treated grapes will harm us?
"No one has come asking for them, that's why,'' says the manager of one of Varkey's stores when asked why it was not available.
When people are going back to their roots in a big way all over, agriculture is doing the same. Going back to the days when chemical fertilizers had not been invented. The Green Revolution goaded farmers to go in for big yields. The White Revolution made impossible demands on the poor `desi' cow and when it put its foot down, they got cows from alien lands that gushed out milk in return for large readymade feeds manufactured by huge companies. Now, the `desi' cow is a showpiece, confined to research projects. Milk in its original form has become a luxury and people wonder how much of milk is milk, how much chemicals.
Hormones, likewise, have a free run in all things edible and it plays havoc with life. The change is discernible in several areas but has yet to be glaring enough for folks to sit up and take stock of it. Gulf families will vouch for it.
Says Radhika, who has a son and a daughter, aged nine, " I don't give chicken to my daughter because most of the girls in her class have already reached puberty and the reason, the mothers say, could be the chicken they eat, pumped with hormones to make them heavier. I would like her to have an extended childhood and she isn't psychologically ready for the hassles connected with those body changes."
Maybe the population boom is to blame, but chemical fertilizers and pesticides were a short-term measure, aimed at hiking yields. It worked as far as the yields were concerned and made farmers happy, for some time. But the soil cannot be expected to magically remain `soil' for long after it is abused in this way. Nutrients are lost and what remain of the so-called soil would be chemicals. Look at what endosulfan is doing to people. Still literate Kerala looks the other way.
Another fallout is the wiping out of natural enemies among the pest population. Spiders eat up insects, you and I know. But pesticides kill spiders. Frogs too love an insect meal, but a large population of the frogs sit on foreign dining tables, all dressed up for `firingi' palates. Result: Increase in pest population and therefore, steep increase in chemical pesticides. The more poisonous the pesticides become, the more resistance the hardy pests show. Where will this vicious circle take us?
To organic farming. Organic tea is being exported now as also organic cardamom, pepper and a few other spices. While Andhra Pradesh farmers are committing suicide because conventional cotton crops let them down, in neighbouring Maharashtra, organic cotton farmers are thriving in some pockets, for the West wants organic cotton!
It is high time we realised that things organic are good for not only exporting but for domestic consumption too. Something organic is being done now in Peermade, Pulpally, Thodupuzha and Paravur. Research is being done at Thiruvananthapuram and several other places.
Organic manure has made a bow in the State. Pramod Gopal, who is passionate about all things organic, threw up a good job to be in this business. He feels that organic neem-based pesticides can do a lot to undo the damage done by chemical pesticides.
Says Mathew Sebastian of the Indian Organic Certification Agency at Aluva, "It takes a few crops to get completely organic products, as the soil has to be rid of all chemical residue. But it is worth the wait. It is a myth that organic farming produces very small vegetables. The first time may be, but after that, one can expect medium sized products. In Pulpally, an agricultural officer turned about 600 farmers to organic farmers. They are selling their vegetables at 50 per cent extra rates and the vegetables are in great demand," he said. It will be cost effective after a few years, he added. A fine example is that of Mr Thomas.
For the late K T Thomas, Kuruvinakunnel of Edamattom near Pala, organic farming was his mission. Every thing he grew in his estate was organic right from green vegetables to chicken and even his rubber plantation. Initially when he resorted to organic rubber cultivation, there was a drop in the yield. As the degraded soil got replenished with the organic manures the yield picked up. After three years it was on par with or higher than in the plantations, which used chemical fertilisers. He developed a laboratory attached to his heritage home where vermi-compost was manufactured using the advanced methods prevalent in the country. Today, his wife follows in his footsteps.
Vermicompost is a kind of manure that is gaining acceptance all over. Biodegradable wastes and earthworms do the trick. Add a bit of cow dung and let the worms increase and multiply. After a few years, the farmers can sit back and the worms take over. Mathew P John, Director of the Sahyadiri Research Institute for eco-farming at Peermade, says organic tea crops are doing very well. "When an area is covered under organic farming, the hens become organic chicken, the milk becomes organic and the change is very healthy," he gushes.
But only if Tamil Nadu gets interested in organic farming can Keralites eat organic vegetables and fruits. Unless Kochiites promote, ask and pay for organic vegetables, people like Mumtaz will be in the minuscule minority.
India's First
INDIA'S FIRST organic certification agency opened at Aluva this April _ Indian Organic Certification Agency. Awaiting accreditation, it is floated by a Trust comprising around 25 NGOs and Corporates. Any product, to be termed organic, needs certification by an appropriate agency. Agencies from abroad have to be brought for certification, incurring huge expenses. Now all that is needed are bold initiatives to turn organic.
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