Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
Making a cult out of food
|
When the Japanese savant Masanobu Fukuoka wrote his One Straw Revolution, people thought he was out of his mind to give up a government job and take to organic farming. But today, years later, people are embracing it like they have found their saviour.
|
Photo: V. Sreenivasa Reddy.
What matters is not just how fresh vegetables are, but also where they come from and what kind of nutrients and pesticides they have absorbed. The buzzword is organic.
ORGANIC FARM products appear to be the latest fad among those used to a fast, consumerist lifestyle. For the middle-class, predominantly, it has come to acquire an ethnic, getaway value, as well as symbolising good health. People don't have a problem buying vegetables and fruits off a supermarket shelf, and thereby assume organic produce can contribute to a healthy, productive life.
Prem Koshy, proprietor of Assertive Lifestyle, says that an increasing number of people want to buy organic fruits and vegetables. "Koshy's Departmental store sells organic food products as part of its effort to get people to consume safe products. Our organic rack contains organic jams, peanut butter, wheat, jaggery, garden fresh vegetables, fibre foods, and more." Advocates of organic farming encourage vegetable growers to maintain a "positive philosophy" and they predict that this new century will be the century of organic farming.
What attracts people to this form of agriculture? It is the ecological value, primarily. The use of organic manure, plant-based material that revitalises crops, helps improve soil fertility, which in turn nourishes fruits and vegetables grown on it. This is economical and self-sustaining. The fact that fertilisers and pesticides are not used helps the growth of such produce.
Organic gardening will require the preparation and maintenance of healthy soil; fertilising plants with the right combination of nutrients, and protecting crops from pests and disease. Dr. Vishwanath B. Narayan, Vice-President of Kadur Agro, observes: "Soil will become sustainable only when one goes organic. Inorganic farming will improve the yield in the beginning, but will stagnate, and the yield will fall much below sustainable farming practices or organic practices. To enrich soil, you must make your own micro organisms and vermicompost. This will keep the soil free of pests."
The garden gets its food from organic manure and kitchen waste, obtaining basically from the plant source. Plant-based materials offer the same nutrients as animal-based products, and are easy to obtain and use. Though some guides to organic gardening, advocate the use of animal by-products such as bone meal, blood meal, fish emulsion, and manure.
The best thing about organic manure is that it can be prepared at home. Compost is made by taking organic matter such as leaves, weeds, grass clippings, and kitchen waste, and allowing them to decompose in a pile. The use of compost that includes garden debris, straw, wood ashes, eggshells, human and pet hair, seaweed, and even the good old newspaper will enhance fertility. Experts say the best way to build the soil's quality and content is to use compost, which provides nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.
This practice has an interesting history. It dates back to the 19th Century when Sir Albert Howard was Governor of the Madras Province. He helped pioneer the "Bangalore method" of layering green (freshly cut) vegetation with brown (dead leaves, etc.) to create an organic mix that is eaten by bacteria, which, in turn, are consumed by protozoa that excrete nitrogen to create perfect plant food. Earthworms, which eat the protozoa, improve the fertility of the soil by virtue of their waste as well as their natural aeration.
Pest control, an important part of the process, can be done by "letting nature be nature" and making gardens hospitable to snakes, toads, birds, and other animals that normally feed off insects that threaten crops. Many insects, such as aphid-eating ladybugs, are beneficial to gardens. To protect the vegetables and fruits from pests, an effective pest spray can be made of water, crushed egg shells, neem cake, groundnut cake, animal debris such as fish meal and bird manure, a mixture of cow dung, tea leaves, and plant residue. Lalith Sundaram, an organic practitioner, observes that planting marigold in between the other plants is useful as they release chemicals that discourage pests.
Monica Shukla, another organic farmer, believes organic gardening enriches the soil environment. She uses a lot of green manure and grows leguminous plants in between the crops, as they are natural insect repellents. "Doses of herbal extracts prevent coconut mites. In addition to organic prevention, an organic gardener must check the garden regularly to catch problems early.
Also, look at the undersides of leaves and the base of stems for diseases," she suggests.
Babitha Sundaresh, another organic farmer, recommends that plants should be watered early in the morning.
"The leaves stay damp at night from evening watering. This makes them prone to disease and pests. When plants are watered in the morning, before the sun gets hot and burns them, the leaves dry fairly quickly," she observes.
Peter Isaac, musician and teacher, an organic farmer for 20 years, has the last word: "Inorganic farming is in the interest of MNCs, especially those from the West. They make a fast buck by dumping banned products on the Third World countries. The farmers here capitalise on it as they get subsidies from the Government."
Organic farming products are certainly catching on. Most of our supermarkets now store them.
But they come with an extra cost and hence remain elitist. As they are beyond the reach of common man, and the question before us is whether organic farming can survive the onslaught of commercialised, large-scale agriculture.
SUSAN PANIVELIL
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
|
