Organic food? ‘Buy another day’

Archana Nair’s office held a session on various benefits of pesticide- and chemical-free organic food. However, despite hearing the numerous advantages of such food, Archana never felt the inclination to hunt for them in the supermarkets. She decided to give it a shot only when one of her friends gifted her a voucher for organic food.

“I bought rice and fruits. But to buy organic stuff on a regular basis is a hassle. As such, it is not readily available. And to top, it the cost is also a little high,” she rues.

Archana’s sentiments probably explain why organic food, which has been making headlines for some time now, still has not been able to catch the attention of the masses.
HR professional Anumita Suri is a little liberal with her purse strings when it comes to organic food.

“I try and eat organic food as far as my budget permits. However, unlike some of my friends, I am not hell-bent on having organic food. I need to go on office tours regularly. Where will I find organic food in hotels!” she says.  

Experts believe that greater awareness about organic food has not resulted in higher sales as buyers often display irregular buying patterns.

Riyaz Marol, general manager, Namdhari’s Fresh, which stocks organic vegetables and groceries in its stores, believes that though the demand is growing, it has been below expectations.
“Much of our stock is organic. However, we have not gone completely organic as the demand is still not up to the expectations. The high price of such products deters many customers.”

In fact, Ponnu Subramanian, senior vice-president, buying, merchandising (foods) & SCM, Max Hypermarkets, said organic grocery forms only 1-3% of their overall grocery stock while fruits and vegetables form 5-10%. “The current share of sale is not an indicator of the potential. There are various issues that pull down the share, like high pricing and non-availability. The demand could be better if the range and availability is continuous from suppliers’ point of view,” he said.

TN Manjunath, consultant in Agri Biotechnology and Integrated Best Management, believes that the main supporters of organic food have to take a different route to market their products if they have to have a bigger reach. “The main problem with them is they condemn the use of chemicals and pesticides without actually offering any alternative. Organic food has a low yield. It is not possible to serve a huge population. During 1950s and 60s, we never used chemicals and pesticides. But when the demand grew, farmers had little choice but to use chemicals to improve their yield. Else, how could they have fed the growing population!” he said.

However, Sahaja Samrudha, an organisation that helps farmers market their organic produce under the brand name ‘Sahaja Organics’ holds a different view. G Krishna Prasad, who is part of the organisation, blames government apathy for lack of mass support for organic food. “It is wrong to say that organic food is only consumed by upper-middle class people. We had held an organic rice mela in Shimoga. It attracted more than 4,000 people and the mela did a business to the tune of Rs 3lakh. Hence, the argument that organic food is not meant for the middle-income families does not really hold true. After all, who does not want a healthy life!” Prasad said.

Health is priceless

For 45-year-old Hemamalini Kutty, who swears by everything organic, adopting a healthy lifestyle has got to do more with attitude than financial constraints. “How difficult can it be to spend Rs500-800 extra every month! One can easily cut down on their eating out and other entertainment,” she said.

“I agree money has little value nowadays. People can afford to shell out a little extra. However, eating fruits and vegetables that do not have any chemicals sounds great only on paper. I wish it was sustainable. Till the entire population can be fed, there is no way one can ban the use of chemicals and pesticides,” argued Dr Manjunath.