Dirty dozen

[SNG - gmail]

Which, if any, vegetables and fruits are relatively safe to buy?

An interesting article by Claude Alvares to help us choose better food. Is it true that farmers do not use much pesticides for coconut trees? Is it reasonably safe to use 'non-organic' coconuts?

Anyone?

Gananath

[shiva hombal]

good article. shall we translate this in to kannada and try to publish in edu magazines?

- Sh

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[Harish Amur]

In my experience, I have not seen pesticides being used for Coconut. The use of asafoetida is common. Many people also mix salt along with manure. But these are natural things.

I will ask other coconut growers to know if pesticides are being used on coconuts. Interestingly all our coconut needs are being met by the four trees at home, so I have not really thought about the inorganic coconut too much.

Interesting write up. It definitely helps to be careful while choosing vegetables. 

I am a little relieved to see black spots on some of the tomato varieties and Brinjals here. I think the amount of pesticides used near our town seems lower than the amounts that are being used near Bangalore (for e.g.). 

Mangoes: Often the ants on the mango trees are got rid off. They actually help reduce the insect population.  Most of the mango trees in our farm had ants. Even the trees at home had a lot of ants. We had near zero insect issues with mango fruits this year and last year. 

Oil is another big problem in food today. We can reserve this topic for another time.

Regards,

Harish

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[Brinda Rao]

Good article. Read the article last night and I was thinking if there really was a way to ensure the quality of these vegetables that I regularly use especially tomato, potato, greens and brinjal.  I cut up three brinjals this morning and voila.. was quite happy to see a live worm in one of them! 

But seriously, how do we make sure that the vegetables that our 'organic store' person is selling is actually organic?

[Gananath - gmail]

Dear all,

This is the response I got from friend, Mr. Balachandran who runs Nesara - an organic shop in Mysore.

Based on my observation,

Farmers growing only coconunts normally don't bother to use fertilizers and pesticides after the initial 2-3 years. Once 3 years crossed, the tree takes care of itself. However, farmers who do intercropping (many of the non-organic farmers do intercropping) of fruits will put pesticides which will affect the trees as well. And I've heard of some farmers in Kerala who inject hormones to coconut trees stem directly for faster and even growth.

So, the moral of the story is to 'know the source' - which I believe should be the core principle to be followed by any organic consumer (it also helps in adhering the other code of conduct - 'Thank your farmer before eating'). Where source couldn't be identified, such generic facts can be taken into account. However, we are just playing with our luck - which didn't work in the case Bihar school children. The below note gives a good briefing about the tragic incident.

I think the following proverb goes well with the organic world - 'Known enemy is better than the unknown friend'. Meaning, a farmer who uses limited pesticides is a safe bet than an unknown farmer!