A false choice
There is need for both organic and inorganic food
The findings of a study sponsored by the British Food Standards Agency, that organic food is no healthier and provides no significant nutritional benefit when compared with conventionally produced food, may have irked the proponents of organic agriculture but it comes as no surprise to farm scientists. This latter group had always believed and argued that, qualitatively, there is hardly any difference between organically and inorganically produced foods. The difference is basically in productivity. Inorganic agriculture, involving the use of chemical fertiliser and pesticides, gives a far higher out-turn than organic farming where the use of any artificial and/or chemical input is strictly forbidden. Though organic food lobbyists worldwide have rubbished the British report, which is based on 162 scientific papers published in scientific journals over the last 50 years, there is little or no reason to doubt the credentials of those who have put this study together. Besides, agricultural scientists have sound logic to back them. They argue that plant roots absorb nutrients in their most elementary form, regardless of the source they come from. The quality of the produce depends largely on inherent genetic traits and the overall health of the plants, and not so much on the way they are grown. That is why different varieties of the same crop, having dissimilar genetic make-up, yield foods of dissimilar quality even if grown in a similar manner.
The real problem with non-organic foods is the presence of pesticide residues owing to the indiscriminate use of plant protection chemicals. The problems posed by chemical fertiliser are basically environmental, because they usually spew harmful gases and also leach down to contaminate underground water. But toxic residues in foods are common in countries like India, where farmers routinely disregard instructions for safe use of pesticides. The consumers of organic foods can at least be sure that they are not ingesting health-injurious toxins.
This means it is futile to debate the superiority of one form of produce over another. Both organic and inorganic forms of agriculture have their place in farming systems. While organic farming, producing chemical-free foods, has a niche and rapidly-growing market, reckoned globally at $48 billion in 2007, inorganic agriculture is needed to feed the ever-swelling human and livestock population. Organic farming is expanding rapidly in India too, in response to the growth in demand for chemical-free products. The total area under organic agriculture, estimated at over 530,000 hectares in 2008, is projected by the agriculture ministry to expand to nearly two million hectares by 2015. This should be deemed a welcome development as there is no reason why consumers who are willing to pay higher prices for organically-produced safe foods should be denied such products. But since the real challenge before mankind is to ensure food security for the millions, high-yielding, conventional agriculture is indispensable, whether it uses chemical inputs or not.