The New Food Movement: Why India needs to be the leader.

[Vinodh Valluri]

 

Frances Moore Lappe writes about The Food Movement: its power and possibilities. Part of the information includes comments by Vandana Shiva, and even notes that Andhra Pradesh is the Pesticide Capital of the world - news to me, people!

http://www.thenation.com/article/163403/food-movement-its-power-and...

 

The link to the article is above, but the food movement can really fare better in India than elsewhere, don't you think? I remember mentioning to a friend about Urban Gardens in India, and the idea was shot down as Indians are catching quick pace with Western models of eating outside, food packaged in plastic, and evil McDonalds! My hope is that the strength of the public opinion which stalled Monsanto's BT Brinjal will be able to enhance the food quality and availability for a growing India. Our population is set to exceed that of China soon! Unless there is organic, rural, local, urban, backyard, and frontyard farming, the future of food in India will remain subject to both corporate insidiousness, and the failures of the Western food system! Navdanya is already working on supporting heirloom crops, sustainable agriculture, and traditional culture. Leading Swamis of the ISKCON movement are cultivating exemplary models of the traditional Village communities that subsisted on "soil, not oil", to borrow Vandana Shiva's famous words. Young ones like me in the US are joining the new Food revolution and willing to work for it. Recently, two IITians rejected lucrative job offers to start their own farm in Uttar Pradesh! The possibilities are ripe for India to re-establish Gandhi's lost ideals of simple living through agriculture. What do you think? Need help on that farm? :) 

 

[Bhavani Prakash]

You're right...if there's a place where we can go back to our roots as far as the food system is concerned, it's India...yet it is really sad to see the pace at which junk food is sweeping across the country.  Well done to the likes of you to spearhead the new food revolution. Keep it up. We need more like you :) 

 

[Vinodh Valluri]

Although I am passionate about this issue, and see the possibilities, I await an opportunity... have not yet begun on anything, Bhavani! By the way, the project I was working on just got terminated, and my job search includes sustainable food positions.. Wish me luck! :)

[Rohit Pathania]

The truth is that agriculture has to be sustainable and necessarily small scale in nature to have maximum impact in terms of productivity and environment-friendliness. Large scale organic farming is not really environment friendly as is often the claim.

[Vinodh Valluri]

You hit the nail on the head, Rohit. Large scale Organic quickly goes unsustainable - financially. In the US, however, small scale agriculture is adversely affected due to the insidious nature of USDA legislation (which is often written by the likes of ex-Monsanto officials). In India, there is still a valid distrust of GMO crops, even with Andhra Pradesh being the pesticide capital of the world.. Like I said before, Navdanya is amongst the places where seeds of hope still remain.. and energetic people are willing to do what is needed.. There is hope, always, but the opportunities that will enable the practical realization of these hopes will be needed if Indian traditional agriculture has to survive the ruthless breakdown of food systems that will ensue with this continuing Western model of life.

[GOPI KANTA GHOSH]

Absolutely right posting at right time...it must be shared to create awareness...