Organic revolution catching on in Chennai

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

An organic food revolution is slowly catching on in Chennai as more and more people turn to agricultural products grown without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilisers.

Although organic food shows a low penetration of 17 per cent among households in India, experts believe that in Chennai awareness about it is slowly growing and outlets in pockets like Adyar, Besant Nagar, T Nagar and Anna Nagar now stock organic food.

Arun, owner of Vidai organic store in the city, feels that currently the awareness is limited to the elite and upper middle class and will percolate to the masses only if organic food products become cheap and affordable.

Arun is planning to cash in on the organic revolution sweeping across the city by opening an organic food hotel on East Coast Road or Old Mahabalipuram Road. “IT professionals are now more health conscious, and with diabetes and stress at a high level in the city, an organic food hotel would be a big hit,” he says.

“There is a marked preference in many shops and malls for organic millet with the spurt in diabetes. The State government is launching a major initiative in tribal areas to increase millet production by involving womenfolk under the Puthu Vazhvu project,” said Sultan Ahmed Ismail, noted ecologist and director of Ecoscience Research Foundation.

A study claims that the market for organic food is still nascent in India with very few active brands and a low penetration even among urban consumers. The estimated market size of organic fruit and dairy products at present is $80 million and $20 million respectively. The study predicts this will grow at 13-14 per cent and 10-11 per cent respectively over the next five to six years.

“The main reason for the low demand for organic food in the city is that people find it too expensive. The main issue is that we are dependent on the western market for import of organic food. These industries use a lot of technology to process organic food items,” Sultan says.

“The cost of organic food is high because it is produced in isolated areas and there is the cost of transporting the food to the market. Organic food is a way of life. It is food on the table and people should not see it as belonging to the elite class,” he says.

The nutrient content is higher in organic vegetables. But how does one know food is organic? “Organic food items undergo a certification. Certification by a global expert costs `3 lakh. But there is more reasonable certification. One is the participating grading system (PGS) certification by the Organic Farming Association, a body of registered organic farmers. There is a need to accept the grading system as it is done by the farmer himself,” Sultan said. Sivaraman, an activist with Poovulagin Nanbargal, a 25-year old environmental movement, says that the organic market is slowly picking up in the city. Although there have been some ups and downs like non-availability of de-husked millet, many supermarket stores now stock organic food and there is growing consumer awareness about these products