#TGLIFE
You are what you eat. Thus, it is time that we start thinking about what we are actually eating. This becomes especially necessary, given the reports of instances of artificial ripening of fruits through the use of harmful chemicals.
“Who suffers in the end?” asks Suman Anand Kurade, an octogenarian from Panaji who has been active in the social field for about four decades and who has founded a charity trust in the name of her late husband Dr Anand G Naik Kurade. The trust recently held a seminar on ‘Fruits and Vegetables: Food or Poison’ in Panaji.
“It’s the consumers who buy and eat this farm produce who pay the price - of consuming poison and inviting ill-health in the end. The pesticides used to spray on the fruits and vegetables are detrimental to health. However those who use them may not be aware of this fact. In a similar fashion, those who consume these fruits and vegetables are not always aware of the pesticide spraying. Therefore awareness is the remedy to control this,” stated Suman.
While there are rules in place to check the menace of artificial ripening, the panel stated that these should be imposed effectively by the government.
“There should also be a check on roadside nurseries who sell unhealthy plants sprinkled with pesticides,” suggests Suman, a consumer activist .
It was during the first seminar (on January 30, 2014) that the Green Club was born. Now growing in number, the members of this club grow vegetables, fruits and spices organically while converting household biodegradable waste into compost used for gardening. And the Dr Anand G Naik Kurade Seminar has been educating the people of Goa to also join in the organic food movement for the best four years through its biennial seminars. Held since 2014 by the Anand Suman Charity Trust, Botanical Society of Goa and Green Club the seminar and exhibition focuses on organically grown fruits, vegetables and plants and also offers inputs on gardening.
Hosted by Miguel Braganza, chairperson, GCCI Agriculture Committee, this year’s seminar focussed on what the consumers expect from the food that they pay for. It began with screening of video clips on post-harvest treatment of fruits and vegetables.
Initiating the seminar, Roland Martins, co-ordinator, GOACAN , stated that the Directorate of Agriculture does nothing except issuing ‘show cause notices’ to the unregistered vendors selling fruits and ornamental plants on push carts. The Act (Goa Fruit and Ornamental Plant Nurseries (Regulation) Act, 1995) makes the sale of plants by unregistered nurseries as illegal and there is no provision for the sale of plants on pushcarts. The rules however do not provide for seizure, confiscation and destruction of the plants by the Directorate of Agriculture, Goa as is allowed to FDA under the FSSAI Rules in Goa or is done for forcefully and artificially ripening of the mangoes and bananas.
Madhav Kelkar, managing director of GSHCL made a presentation on the quality parameters for vegetables and how the Goa State Horticultural Corporation Ltd is ensuring that the consumers obtain the best possible vegetables.
FDA director Jyoti Sardesai explained why artificial ripening of mangoes, bananas etc with calcium carbide or by spraying with, or dipping in, ehtrel or ethephon was bad and how the rules were framed to compound offences, seize and destroy artificially ripened fruits or other sub-standard food material. “Most of these seizures are during the peak demand at the time of festivals and in the wee hours of the morning,” she said.
Minister for Agriculture Vijai Sardesai promised to make the Goa Fruit and Ornamental Plants Nursery (Regulation) Act 1995 enforceable by changing the rules framed thereunder as also to look at possibilities of promoting organic agriculture and community farming.
