We are what we eat or so the Social Welfare minister Ak Mirabai believes when she said as reported that the kind of food we consume could have effect not only on our physical well-being but also on our mental and spiritual well-being. The minister was dilating the issue of the use of harmful chemicals by vegetable growers to increase their yield. Inaugurating the sixth edition of the annual Chinjak Festival at the Yaipha Lamjing Lup ground at Pishum Ningombam Leikai yesterday, the minister had observed it is common practice especially among the vegetable farmers to use chemical on their vegetables to increase their yield and gain more profit. Of all the tales we have to tell and all the issues we have to discuss in the State, what the minister touched upon is one issue which needs immediate focus from all stakeholders so as to come up with a well thought-out policy. The issue, as superficial as it may seem from the surface, concerns high stakes if we manage to dig a little deeper. Consuming food with high level of chemical residue could only mean potential health risk. Prolonged consumption of vegetables with higher residues of pesticides and other chemicals may mean irreparable damage to our health. This is in contrast to the lessons on the benefits of daily consumption of the green vegetables that we have all grown up with.
For a society, where vegetables still rule the menus in most household kitchens, the demand for the greens or the veggies could be pretty high. Couple this with the idea of more produce meaning more profit and we have the perfect excuse for vegetable growers to use chemicals in their fields. This is when the pesticides, antibiotics and the hormones come into play. Even if the use of hormones and antibiotics is a new practice in the State with not many vegetable growers using such chemicals, pesticides are known to be widely used. Chemical like pesticides are used to control pest from damaging the vegetation where those like hormones are used to make the vegetables or fruits swell quicker before their natural period. Fruits and vegetables like brinjal, pumpkin, cucumber, watermelon, etc. are injected hormones to ripen them in a short period. Nevertheless, these chemicals are used to increase production which will mean meeting the demand and at the end returning home with a heavier wallet. In a place like Manipur, where the idea of organic farming being able to meet the demand is still farfetched, it would be good on the part of the government to come up with a policy to control the level of chemical residue in the vegetables. At risk as we are already living in this environment of dust and adulterated food items, we could atleast hope for the government to lessen the risk and come out with a policy to control chemical residue in vegetables and set limits to the use of pesticides and other chemicals. As the Social Welfare minister had herself pointed out that the public should take equal responsibility to maintain food hygiene, encouraging organic farming may be a good start.
Leader Writer: Wangkheimayum Bhupendra Singh