WHAT LEAD TO THE REVOLUTION
After returning to work from a 15-year sabbatical, in 2013, Manju Warrier (famous Malayalam actor) wanted to work for a movie that had a rather political or socio-economic genre. And so she finally decided to take into consideration the movie, How Old Are You? This film concentrated on the fragile but almost always ignored topic- Food Safety. It tells about how poisonous chemicals are sprinkled on the crops, in the form of fertilizers and pesticides. The movie grabbed a huge success and a campaign with same theme in Kerala found to have benefited with it at a great scale.
WHY KERALA NEEDED THE REVOLUTION
In the olden days, locals in Kerala counted only on the home-grown produces and they indeed were healthy. But as the time changed, came the revolution of urbanization and industrialization that further lead to the imports of fruits and vegetables to Kerala from neighboring states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Soon enough, Tamil Nadu evolved as a major supplier for Kerala and owing to the surplus demand of the same, Kerala for Tamil Nadu proved to be a great deal.
But Tamil Nadu’s supply contained huge chemical content which the authorities were very ignorant for checking on. But all thanks to the campaign and the movie (How Old Are You?), awareness about harmful chemicals had spread throughout the state, people started a check on the quality.
As per some studies pesticides lead to the cause of cancer and other such diseases in Kerala. On this VP Gangadharan (Oncologist) said there are two ways high level of pesticide residue can cause cancer- Direct and Indirect. The direct effect results in gastro-intestinal cancer and indirect effect results in uterus and breast cancer among women. He also added “Every third woman coming for cancer treatment has breast cancer”.
HOW KERALA AND ITS GOVERNMENT WORKED TO MAKE THE REVOLUTION HAPPEN
This issue raised concerns in the State Food Safety Council and they organized field studies. A three-member team was created, which was responsible for collecting samples from different vegetable productions of Tamil Nadu. The research officer of Food Safety Council, G Gopakumar, said “The picture that emerged from our studies was rather grim.” The research showed tremendous levels of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Following this, State Horticulture Mission discussed the issue with its Tamil Nadu counterpart. And with this happening, the Chief Minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy called up a meeting for food safety commissioners and health secretaries across the southern states, in order to discuss the issue.
THE GROWTH OF REVOLUTION
The meeting resulted in a positive feedback. Farmer who had ceased agriculture altogetheragain indulged in growing vegetables in their property. And as KP Mohanan, Kerala’s agriculture minister, said Kerala is now able to fulfill 70 percent of its demand through its own produce. This if compared to the results a few years back (20 percent) is a huge success.
People in Kerala are taking interest in organic farming, as said by the principal secretary of agriculture and state agriculture production commissioner, Subrata Biswas. “Work is going on in many panchayats in Kasargod and the government is likely to declare the district as fully organic this year,” he further added.
CONTRIBUTIONS DONE FOR THE REVOLUTION
The Organic Farming Revolution of Kerala wouldn’t have been a success if there were nil contributions by social organizations, political parties, government agencies, farmers’ self-help groups and women organizations. To make the process smoother, the State Horticulture Mission is providing Grow Bags in Southern Kerala. The Grow Bags are made of plastic and contains sterile growing nutrients and mediums so that the plants grow. 8.25 lakh Grow Bags were distributed to 33000 people in the first year alone, and by the next year the amount grew to 6.89 bags given to 27000 beneficiaries.
About three lakh women were inspired for organic farming by Kudumbashree, a social organization with the motto of encourage and empower females. Kudumbashree did the needful by spreading the word across all the corners of the states. They opted for Warrier as a goodwill ambassador to represent their organic food movement. The organization took 50000 hectares of land for agriculture and 8400 hectares of this has been devoted to organic vegetables.
This Onam, CPM is planning of opening 1000 stalls dedicated to vegetables that are grown through organic farming. Lawrencedale Agro, a company dealing with fresh vegetable supply, too has taken the issue into consideration. The company tries to work directly with the farmers and has about 3000 farmers across South India working for them in exchange of good remunerations. It has been in the business since 7 years.
Lawrencedale makes use of laser perforation packages, which is done following hygienic wash, done in order to eliminate pesticide residue. This process helps in making the freshness and quality of the produce last longer. Washing is done by ozone-wash which almost vanishes the amount of residue left over.
“We also advise the farmers in our fold to reduce dependency on pesticides by suggesting alternatives,” said the founder and chief executive of Lawrencedale P Vijayaraghavan. The 20 percent extra cost incurred in the vegetables sold under LEAF brand is due to minimum pesticide residue and thus the company is hoping that the consumers understand the reason behind the markup and do not end up compromising with their health.