Zero Pesticide Vegetables is What You Need
Fresh vegetables, clean vegetables, healthy vegetables etc are some of the terms we use to emphasize on the consumption of good vegetables. Vegetables in India mostly come from Villages and not many in the cities have seen how they are grown. Have you ever asked while buying vegetables at the sabzi mandi (vegetable fair) or at a supermarket, from where it was sourced or how it was grown? I am unable to recall if I have ever asked such questions. And I can safely assume that many of us do not ask either. But we should be asking this questions and must find the answers. Because the consumption of vegetables directly impact the your and your near and dear one’s health. The impact could be not for just this generations but for future generations as well. My idea is not to scare you under your skin but definitely to bring awareness for making people more healthy leading to a healthy country.
Honestly, I was not thinking about all these until my visit to First Agro farm. Located in the Cauvery valley in Talakad, they claim to produce vegetables using Zero pesticide technique. My eyes remained wide open after what I saw and learned over there. First Agro is run by an ex technocrat (Naveen) and an ex flyer (Nameet). During my day visit over there, I tried to understand why Zero Pesticide vegetables is the need of the hour and how it is different from organic vegetables. In India farming is done by farmers who are largely illiterate. They are mostly not aware of the recent happenings and easy to fool off.
Why farmers use pesticide?
They use pesticide to kill pests (or keep them away) who harm the vegetable plants.
Now this should be a good thing that pesticide kill pest! But the picture is not so rosy. It has been found that it also kills the beneficial insects. Also, the amount of pesticides used this year will not be enough to sustain in the coming years and farmers keep on spraying even more pesticides. This is leading to infertile land and ultimately low yield. Farming no longer seems to be a sustainable profession for small scale farmers and people are leaving farming in large numbers everyday. The non degradable part of pesticides remain in vegetables, soil etc and are the harmful agents. One of the most visible harmful effects of pesticide usage in India can be seen in the cashew growing areas of Kasaragod district, Kerala. Here a dangerous pesticide called Endosulfan was sprayed indiscriminately over the area. The after effects were horrible. People died of various disease, mentally and physically challenged child were born etc. Endosulfan is banned in many countries but not sure why we continue to use it here in India? Pesticide residual is 750 times more than prescribed global standards which is very bad for health.
Watch a documentary related to this incident:
In the 1960s during India’s green revolution the usage of pesticides increased many fold in its quest to increase food productivity. I totally agree India as a country should be self reliant in food production. But in our quest to feed the increasing population we should not give them a free ticket to unwanted diseases. It is high time we should look for ways which allows high yield in food production and at the same time reduces harmful effects. In this regard, I think First Agro has done a very good job with their Zero Pesticide vegetables.
There are many other similar incidents which came to light or we don’t know. Now what is the way forward? Zero Pesticide Vegetables. So how and where I can procure Zero Pesticide vegetables? To our good luck First Agro produce these healthy vegetables in cauvery valley very near to Bangalore. The small distance from Bangalore would ensure that fresh vegetables will reach Bangalore everyday. You can procure them at the following places:
1. Hypercity at Kundanhalli main road, Whitefield and Bannerghata Road
2. Total Hypermarket at Sarjapur, Mahadevpura, Domlur and Madiwala
3. Auchan Koramangala, AUCHAN Mantri Square Malleshwaram and AUCHAN Bannerghatta Road
4. More Megastores at GG Mall (Old Madras Road), Mahadevpura, Madiwala and Bull Temple Road
5. Food Hall @1 MG Road, Trinity circle
Also, they can be sourced online at:
Recently, we tried some vegetables from First Agro at home. My mother who is very finicky about vegetables told these vegetables cooks better and taste better! Now its time for you to choose.
That is very interesting. I have heard this arguement before and we should definitely not use pesticides if they are harmful to humans. It seems strange that India still used Endosulfan after so many countries have banned it