Organic farming takes a new turn

KOZHIKODE: The organic farming bug has  bitten the public in Malabar leading to mushrooming of many initiatives  apart from individual efforts and professionally-run farmers’ organisations. Thanks to the scare among people over unhealthy foodstuffs produced through unbridled farming practices using chemical fertilisers and  pesticides. The reports on trucks carrying cancer-causing poisonous  vegetables and other foodstuffs coming from   Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have  sent shockwaves among the consumers here.  There are countless professionals who have turned to household organic farming and who sell excess vegetables.

An organization ‘Niravu’ based at Vengeri in Kozhikode with the support of 127 farming families has converted it into the first organic vegetable farming village in the state. Another initiative, the Janakeeya Jaiva Pachakkari Krishi, a pro-CPM organic farmers’ movement, has roped in hundreds of farmers into the ‘go-organic’ initiative which sold out 2,200 tonnes of vegetables through its 71 outlets in Kozhikode district during this Vishu season alone.

Mr K.P. Kunjahammed Kutty, Kozhikode district chairman of the farmers’ movement, told Deccan Chronicle that when the initiative was started on the Vishu day last year, it  had only seven outlets. “Now we have 71 outlets collecting vegetables from 644 acres of land and it is still growing,” he added. “For us it is not a business but a tool to improve the health of generations,” Mr Kutty pointed out.

During the Vishu season, the markets in Malabar got flooded with local vegetables which ensured  stable prices. “For various farming
collectives, there was excess production and many farmers sold  them at  throw-away prices,” he said. On the other hand,  the mushrooming of fake outlets also poses a threat to people’s health, it was pointed out. “There is no foolproof system to ensure that the product you buy  is truly organic,”  says Mr Tomy Mathew Vadakkumchery who owns ‘Elements,’ the oldest organic farm producers’ outlet in the state.

“During the last few years, over a hundred vegetable outlets exclusively for organic food stuffs have been opened across the state. At least these shops should  tell the buyers, who pay a higher price than the market, about the source of the products,”  he said. “Traceability is the best way to ensure its genuineness,” he added.   “At present there is absolutely no mechanism to check the poison  traces in foodstuffs,” he added.

Apart from the laboratory in the Agricultural University, there are no other modern testing facilities in the government sector to detect the  pesticide residues. Though there are high-end laboratories in the private sector, they are costly. If you want  to test a particular pack of vegetables,  you have to collect about one kg as sample and also spend up to Rs 10,000, it is said.

State food safety commissioner T.V. Anupama told DC that the upgrading of laboratories under the department was on. “Soon, we will be equipped  to detect the presence of around 30 pesticide residues and once we can detect up to 60  residues, we would be able to tell whether the foodstuffs are poison-free,” Ms Anupama said.