Human lifestyles leading to degradation and pollution of air, soil and our water-bodies around us is well-known but not many might know that its effects have now reached the food we consume. Lifestyle diseases – hypertension, diabetes, heart- disease and cancer – have become commonplace in urban India and it is increasingly clear that one of the root causes is the food we consume. However the urban life speed does not allow us stop back nor provide the time to review the causes leave aside think about any cures.

The gravity of the issue at hand led to the coagulation of some similar-thinking individuals; a number of experts in and around Pune working in the fields of agriculture, health, nutrition and sustainability, converged into a citizen movement working towards creating awareness about Safe-Food and building a network of stakeholders. Annadata – Safe Food Movement is a citizen-driven, expert-led voluntary movement born to common man’s restlessness about the toxicity in our daily food.

What is Safe Food?

Food which is non-toxic and nutritious for the body is safe food. It should be chemical free, adulteration free, Genetically Modified free and even excessive processing free. So organic, naturally grown food is safe food; a farm produce which ensures the safety of the farmers, their farm animals as well as retains the equilibrium in the soil and ecosystem. Different types of safe food available are as below –

Tribal food – Tribal food is grown in remote interior areas by tribal farmers who are unaware of chemicals and modern farming. The tribals grow for themselves and their surplus if any, is sold. Natural Farming – (Fukuoka or Zero Budget method)- Herein the farmers use all naturally available resources within their own farm to grow food e.g. cowdung for manure and neem leaves as pesticides, thus not investing / dependent on market for growth of their foodcrop. Organic – Use of organically certified, safe fertilisers & pesticides to grow food. Organic certification is provided to farms growing with this method. Now other more diverse methods such as permaculture, biodynamic farming are being used by farmers too.

We bring together farmers – as producers and citizens as Consumers, directly or through responsible supply-chains tying the two as needed.

Annadata Organic Food Festival is being arranged at the Bhimthadi Jatra between 22 and 25 December 2017 at the Agriculture College Grounds as the kickoff event of the Annadata Safe Food Movement. Safe Food Pune Volunteers are creating a knowledge pavilion where people will be able to understand the concept of safe food and reflect on their lifestyles leading to the grim realities of significant and unmonitored amounts of toxins reaching people through the food being consumed.

Know Your Farmer and Consumer

One significant gap in the agriculture supply chain currently all over the world is that consumers simply don’t know who their farmer(s) is/are and how the food they eat everyday is produced. The farmer(s) also do(es) not know the people consuming their produce. Farmers and consumers generally have different expectations from food. In light of the distressing agrarian crisis, the regular farmer aims to grow maximum highest-paying crop/grain to get maximum revenue possible through whatever means (often putting chemicals and sometimes even adulteration in food). The average consumer on the other hand generally intends to pay as little as possible and get the best looking farm produce including unseasonal crops. Often adulteration and impurities are added during the supply chain between farmer and consumer too to ensure the food lasts long or that it looks bright. Consumers are also not sure whether chemical free food is truly chemical free and/or being used as a way to extract additional price from them. The movement hopes to break this dysfunctional system.

Annadata Safe Food Movement has chosen 45 farmers/groups from across Maharashtra; representing 350+ farmers engaged in chemical-free, GMO-free, toxic-free farm practices. The fresh, natural and traditional farm-produce – vegetables, grains, millets and other items will be offered to the visitors for direct purchase. The dialog between the producer and consumer will be useful to forge a family-farmer concept where buyer groups can build long-lasting relationships. Urban consumers could visit their family-farmers and their family-farms could, reciprocally, cultivate the produce demanded by such buyer groups. As Devinder Sharma, a leading agricultural policy expert says “As we used to have the concept of a family doctor in the days gone by, we need to have the concept of a family farmer. Farmers whom the consumers know, meet and procure crops from on a regular basis and are almost an extended part of the family”

Amongst the farmers participating at the movement include Kalsubai group, Akole Kalsubai in the Sahyadri ranges is known as the highest mountain peak in the…