Possible vegetable ban scares farmers

But the reports of a possible ban on vegetables from Tamil Nadu has come as a rude shock for the Ooty farmers as they fear it would wreck their livelihood. According to Mr B. Krishnamoorthy, president of the Nilgiris Potato and Vegetable Growers Association, for decades they had been transporting vegetables to Kerala as there is good demand for these hill grown vegetables there.

While some vegetables are transported through the Mettupalayam auction, quite a good quantity is sent via the Gudalur road to Kerala, he added. “So far, there have been no complaints about the quality and excess pesticide levels in Nilgiris vegetables. We do not know what has suddenly happened. The farmers here use only the permissible pesticides in low quantities. All these years no health ailments were reported about consuming Nilgiris vegetables. If the Kerala government imposes a ban for some reasons, it would wreak havoc on our business,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu government should evolve a suitable mechanism for smooth trade of vegetables from the Nilgiris to Kerala, he urged. Mr N. Mani, joint director of horticulture here, said a team of officials conducted raids on all the fertiliser and pesticide shops in the hills to ascertain if banned pesticides were being sold.

“But, no such illegal sale of banned pesticides was noticed. A random check of the vegetables grown in the Nilgiris was done to evaluate the pesticide residues. That, too, was found to be within permissible limits,” said the official.

The horticulture department officials in Coimbatore have been asked to raid the Mettupalayam auction centre to ensure that the traders do not spray pesticides on hill vegetables that come for auction there. “As the hill vegetables are safe for consumption, we are hopeful that Kerala will not impose a ban,” the joint director said.

“We have been monitoring weekly samples test from selective market at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for pesticide residue. We have been monitoring closely the dry and wet products produced by our farmers,” he added.

Of the 50 samples tested on Thursday, only three were found to contain pesticides above permissible levels, the VC added. “This is just a marketing conspiracy of a group of merchants who are trying to reduce the price of vegetables and fruits. Why would farmers add toxic pesticides to the vegetables and fruits? After all they are going to eat the same vegetables and fruits,” the vice-chancellor said.

According to G. Chandrasekaran, joint director of agriculture, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu farmers do not use any systematic pesticides. (systemic pesticides are pesticides which are absorbed by plants and their use is banned.) Farmers in Tamil Nadu use contact pesticides generally when it is required to control a pest and it is not absorbed by the plants.” Residues remain only for seven days and after that it becomes poison-less, once washed, the contact pesticides doesn't stay on the outer surface at all,” the official said.

After the ban on Tamil Nadu vegetables, a sample test was done immediately. “We came to the conclusion that it is not harmful at all. It is all the few merchants who are trying to mislead and harm the farmers,” said joint director of agriculture. Kerala claims that fruits like grapes are not safe to consume, but when the sample test was done the results came back negative.

“We have collected around 250 samples from various locations in TN like Dindigul, Kanyakumari, Salem, Erode etc. and today we cleared 51 samples of which only two (okra and bitter gourd) were found a little contaminated. The proportion of pesticide result will come tomorrow. But they were just little above the prohibited level of pesticides,” he added. It will take 15 to 20 days to complete the entire sample test.

On the other hand, S.Bashzeer, a trader from Coimbatore MGR market, Mettupalayam road claims that the farmers in Tamil Nadu have been using pesticides without anyone’s knowledge. A sample test will be done by Kerala for all the vegetables and fruits coming from the Tamil Nadu traders and after July 14 they will confirm the names of the traders whose products are pesticide free.

“The names of the traders will be placed at the check post of Tamil Nadu and Kerala border, and only they will be permitted to enter. But if the tests come positive, half of the price will come down and it will hit the market badly.”

At present, where the states are waiting for the final results of all the sample tests, market and transportation has not stopped, it is stable as usual, said the traders.