Organic Food, anyone?

If you are into organic food, you would know that nothing organic comes cheap in KL. If you live in the outskirts or in the 'kampungs', the probabilities of getting pure organic food would be higher, although  commercialism is slowly pushing vegetable growers in those parts of Malaysia to aim for quicker harvest and nicer looking vegetables, thus, the popular usage of chemical-based pesticides and fertilisers. Those who frequent Cameron Highlands in Pahang would soon realise that most of the farming activities in this supposed vegetable haven are carried out using extremely harsh and earth-polluting methods. There are but a few growers who have recently turned to more organic practices in view of the more expensive prices tagged for organic food but the majority of growers still practice the conventional methods of farming.

Go to any supermarket, and you will find that organic vegetables or any other organic-labelled food items are always tagged at a higher price than those produced under the conventional food-producing practices. Why? Demand and supply comes to mind. Less people demand for organic food and therefore, there is no initiative for food-producers to supply these items into the market.

Today, even the supposed Pasar Tani found in most towns sell vegetables which are planted in the harshest of practices and which hurts the earth in the long run. The South East Asian Nations have come up with a standard to be conformed by producers to obtain the 'organic' certification. In Malaysia, Sirim Berhad has established a certification process named MS 1529:2001 for the adoption of organic food growers and processors. They too, recognise that the prices of organic foods are higher as the growers have to comply with the standards set to achieve such certification. Avoidance of usage of synthetic materials in the processes, for example, is a definite must.

Anyway, for those who wonder if turning to organic food does help the environment, the answer is YES! Other than the usage of chemical pesticides, conventional farming use a lot of nitrogen compounds in the fertilisers which slowly enter our water-system through rivers and contaminates our waters and when used as fertilizers, breaks down into nitrate that promote faster and more harvest for the plants. The sad part is that excess nitrate enters the soil and pollutes the surface water-entries. Now, nitrate causes serious illnesses in human beings, ESPECIALLY younger children. Do you ever wonder why sales of water filters have grown tremendously in recent years? There is a unmistaken recognition that our waters are being polluted but rather than nipping it in the bud, we have chosen to simply filter out the probabilities of it affecting us. Something like, shoving it under the carpet?

How to do your part? It might hurt your pocket a bit today, but if overall demand gets higher, the farmers will have to change their methods and flood the market with organically-grown vegetables and prices would be averaged out in the long run. Remember when handphones used to be a luxury item and cost almost RM6k each? Today, you can own 60 of the same handphones with that price! The more people want it, the more producers will cater for that demand and the market will thus be flooded with these items and kapow! the prices will average out. So, save the environment - do your part!