How safe are our vegetables, fruits (2)
When washing these vegetables, it will be good to keep them in water for a while. Also washing them several times changing the water is a step in the right direction.
By all means, we must eat fruits and vegetables so I appeal to farmers to make them safe for us. We the consumers should also play a part by washing these foods well.
Ideally, fruits should be allowed to ripen on their own but what do we see these days? They are forced to ripen. I don’t know why we are always in a hurry to eat what is not naturally ready for consumption?
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Must it always be the profit we make as farmers and traders alone? I do not think so. We must consider the health of the consuming public in making these decisions as well.
What is worrying to consumers is the fear that the chemicals used in forcing the fruits to ripen might me left on the fruits.
There is also the fear of the potential effect of the chemicals.
If this is an acceptable practice, it needs to be regulated so that consumers’ health will be safeguarded.
It is common to see heaps of fruits, like oranges at our markets. This is often left in the open. The rain falls on them and the sun shines on them. Dirty flood water sometimes passes round them.
Hope we all can imagine the kind of filth carried by these flood waters. Especially when the water comes from overflowing gutters. This is a very bad practice.
We have to set standards on how these fruits are handled at the markets. They have to be stored in rooms before selling. I want to appeal to traders in these goods, please help consumers by doing things right.
Also, regulators should bring those engaged in these bad practices to book. People want to feel good about the fruits they buy and eat so make it possible for them.
Backyard-gardening can help us eat wholesome fruits and vegetables. Here the farmer is the consumer. Am sure you will produce good fruits and vegetables for yourself. Use organic fertilisers. You can even grow a cabbage on your corridor for example.
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Get a pot or a used plastic bottle. Big ones like the ones used to package cooking oil. Fill them with some black soil and plant your seeds. They will grow graciously on your veranda or at your backyard. The advantage here is that you will not add any chemicals to them.
Families must begin to cultivate some of the food crops and vegetables that they consume. This will not only supplement the family budget but it will offer everyone the opportunity to eat some wholesome food.
Since these farms will not be on a large scale, farmers will have much time to weed the farms and tend the crops. There will not be the need for chemical fertilisers for example. Organic manure can be used to fertilise the crops. Imagine how nice you will feel if you are able to harvest your own vegetables like pepper for use at home.
I know that a lot of those who will be reading this article are people who are busy professionals. Thus my suggestion for them to engage in some backyard or subsistence farming will be viewed as un-real. That may sound true. I believe their work schedule will not permit them to engage in any form of farming.
But which is better? To relegate chances of growing your own vegetables to the background, allow some wicked and greedy folks to engage in wrong farming practices and feed you with unwholesome produce. Or to take your destiny into your own hands and save your life. I strongly recommend that latter to you.
This calls for a lot of planning. Once you put yourself to it, you can get enough time for work and also for yourself. There are too many people who have relegated their own well-being to the background but get all the time necessary for work.
In the end their reward/ resources gotten from those hard work decisions ends up in the hospital. Those who have this knowledge now do not have to fall prey to this canker. Choose right and live an enjoyable life.
It is true that vegetables and fruits farmers employ the use of chemicals to fertilise their produce but do not let this development prevent you from eating them. If you cannot find the wholesome produce to buy anywhere, know that the time is more than ripe for you to pick a hoe and cutlass and farm.
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