Food for thought. How harmful is your food?

Have you ever heard the story of farmers who never eat the food they produce for sale?

So a groundnut farmer would not eat the groundnuts they produce for sale to the people. Likewise, the watermelon farmer does not eat the watermelon in the patch he grows watermelon for sale. So does the potato farmer who grows potatoes to sell them to us. Similarly, we have vegetable farmers who do not eat the vegetables grown for sale. Do you know why?

Well, the fact is these people know what they put into the soil or spray onto the vegetables or products as they grow. They know the about the toxicity of the herbicides they use to destroy the weeds on the land. They understand the harmfulness of the pesticides and the fungicides that they spray onto their produce so as to get the maximum amount for harvest; to maximise profits.

So, what do they do if they wish to eat the type of vegetables they plant since they will not eat what they would have us eat? They grow a little of the vegetables in another plot of land where no herbicides are used to clear the land. When growing the vegetables, no pesticides or fungicides are used. so, they know that whatever they eat, it will not be toxic. They are safe.

Are they really safe? These people forget that they live to eat many other types of vegetables which, like everyone of us, have to obtained from a market; vegetables which are grown by other people with the same ideas as them. They eat vegetables and other produce from other farmers which are full of toxic chemicals. So, who is safe? Practically nobody who has to depend upon others for fruits and vegetables. Is that true?

No! That is not true as there are farmers who produce organic produce. Although such produce is a little more expensive, it may be a way out for us.

However, how sure are we that the produce is truly organic. I know of small-scale farmers who produce vegetables which they claim to be organic, that they use no chemical fertilisers or pesticides or fungicides; yet without a netting, they manage to have no insects or pests in their plots. Is that possible?

The surest safe way to have organic produce is to grow our own vegetables. That is what I do. How much we can produce depends upon the space available and our ingenuity.

No matter what, toxicity is one of the problems humans face in our present world. It is time to thing of a way to reduce the harm it can cause. How we can do it is for us to think about very seriously.