Organic food is a food product which has been grown on farms using environment-friendly practices and is free of artificial fertilizers, and chemical insecticides and pesticides. Organic food does not include any form of genetically modified crop. Farming is one of the oldest professions undertaken by mankind and is a ten-thousand-year-old practice and has been though millennials of change and evolution. Agriculture per se has always been organic, the early farmers did not use any chemical pesticides or chemical fertilizers to increase the yield of their crops.
Introduction of Chemicals in Farming
It was after the second world war when factories manufacturing synthetic chemicals like DDT for war efforts found themselves out of a job. These industries and factories were then pushed to produce pesticides and fertilizers. The U.S government encouraged their farmers to use these synthetic products to increase their yields. At the same time, due to its burgeoning population, India was also looking towards the west to find new ways to grow produce. While, the country went through a green revolution that modernized farming, restructured agricultural practices and increased food production, there was also an underbelly to it. The increased use of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides took Indian farmers away from traditional and organic ways of practicing agriculture.
Increased Awareness about the Dangers of Dhemicals
The 1960s and 70s saw a surge of literature on organic methods of farming and influential works were published that tried to have a deeper understanding of what organic food and organic farming meant. Sir Albert Howard, known as the father of composting, wrote a book called An Agricultural Testament, in which he explained his experiences during decades of living in India. Where he observed and worked with traditional Indian farming methods. He believed humus was essential to soil health and could be manufactured from vegetable and animal wastes.
A Slow Return
It was only at the end of the twentieth century that the real dangers of chemical pesticides and chemical fertilizers came to light. These chemicals that were used in farming had also started to pollute the neighbouring water sources and lead to vitamin deficiencies in the general public. During this time it was felt that there was a need to go back to traditional Indian methods of farming. For our country, the task was not that difficult because many small farmers due to the lack of proper financial backup and lack of modern techniques, had never made the shift to popular chemicals and pesticides.
Stepping into an Organic Future
India, and in fact many of the developing nations, are at the epicentre of an Organic farming revolution. According to reports from the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) in 2013, there were about 2 million farmers worldwide who stuck to organic farming methods. While it is naturally assumed that most of these may belong to Europe or even the Americas, data speaks differently. About 80 per cent of these organic farmers of the world are based in India. Some 600000 of these farmers are certified organic farmers, while others have simply stuck to the age-old practices of agriculture.
Need for Strict Action
Even though natural and traditional farming is the foundation on which an Organic lifestyle can be built. A difficult problem that the country had to deal with is the lack of quality checks and standards. In early 2015, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was challenged by the Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) for allowing companies to indiscriminately use the ‘organic’ label despite not complying with necessary standards.The FSSAI had issued certificates to non-organic food producing companies and permitted food to be wrongly labelled. As vigilant consumers you should know that it’s not enough to be organically careful on our own. The government has to take necessary and robust precautions to make the public aware of the benefits of Organic food and lifestyle.
Want to get started with organic produce? Take a look at the Annapoorna Organic product range. At Annapoorna, we pick the choicest organic produce from all over India and make it available for our customers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.