The Hindu : Kerala News : Organic products find market in Kerala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 24, 2006
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Kerala

Kerala

Organic products find market in Kerala

R.Ramabhadran Pillai

SHOWS PROMISE: A worker plucking tea leaves from an organic tea plantation at Munnar in Idukki district. Organic farming in all crops in the country has tremendous scope for growth, as there is sufficient manpower and infrastructure to promote it. P hoto: K.K. Mustafah

KOCHI: Organic products are set to conquer more space in the shelves of supermarket all over the world. The trend is slowly and steadily growing in India. Kerala, known for its high literacy and awareness on issues concerning health, is apparently accepting the concept. Of course, organic farming practices had never been alien to the native farmer, who had been successfully using cow dung and decayed organic matter to enrich the soil.

Keeping pesticides at bay is possible if a little care is taken right from the preparation of the soil, says Thomas George, a farmer who practises organic farming. He advises farmers to join hands in a bid to capitalise the rewards of organic farming. Group farming activities will be much beneficial to the partners adopting an organic method.

Those who want to export organic produce would require international certifications that could be received after a series of procedures involving some expenditure. Organisations such as Indocert are extending a helping hand to farmers who want to get such certifications. But if the farmer is not bothered about the international market, he can sell the produce within the country where the demand for organic products is on the rise, Mr. George says.

Increasing the productivity of the soil is of prime importance in organic farming, according to K.Sandipa, an expert in the field. This could be done by using simple technologies such as introducing microbes into the soil. Burning of straw in fields will pollute the environment. Instead, it could be recycled, according to her.

The existence of pesticide content in many an agricultural produce is said to be because of reaping of the harvest before the lapse of the mandatory period for expiry of toxicity. Thus, toxic content might be present in the tea leaves if they are plucked when the toxic contents are present. Such complications could be avoided if organic farm practices are adopted in tea estates, says K.Radhakrishnan, a farmer. Organic farming practices are being adopted by the farmers working under Sevashram, a non-governmental organisation based in Angamally. There has been good demand for `organic coconut oil' produced and marketed by the NGO, according to its president Kuriakose Mampilly. The coconut oil is extracted from coconuts plucked from coconut palm trees grown without using artificial fertilisers or pesticides, he said. A variety of other farm produces are also grown under the organic pattern and distributed through the Sevashram network.

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