On organic route for a healthy living

'Krishi' is their way of convincing farmers to grow organic veggies and taking it to consumers directly. Neha Miglani narrates how PU students volunteer to provide healthy food to people.
The task these youngsters have taken up is to create awareness and wake up the consciousness of people on going organic and healthy - a campaign they have waged both at the level of farmers and consumers - by offering practical remedies on ground.
A group of students from Panjab University's S S Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (UICET) have taken the responsibility to go door-to-door in different sectors to make people aware of chemical free crops and vegetables. They have called their voluntary venture "Krishi".
A team of 30 students from food technology and chemical engineering backgrounds have taken it up as a voluntary exercise by getting together their department friends.
"The crops grown by farmers in Ropar who do not use artificial alternates for better yield are brought to the department by us, packed here voluntarily by students, and then we go door to door to sell these vegetables on behalf of the farmers," says Deepanshu Misra, a student of third year food technology at PU.
He, along with Saurabh Mittal, Gaurav Gupta and Deepak Mittal and other friends from his department, trained 15 farmers in Ropar last Saturday to make "Panchgavya" - a chemical-free organic manure used for productive yields.
"We wanted to make the farmers in the region aware of alternate ways, so that they can avoid chemical treatment to make their product better. Panchgavya is successfully used in south Indian states for crop productivity," added a group member.
The students went door-to-door in Sector 34 in the first phase of "Krishi" and will visit sectors 38 and 15 as well in the next few weeks. Enjoying the experience of taking up an interesting work for a better cause, the PU student volunteers actually took a cart carrying vegetables around the city.
"These farmers are producing organic products like grains, vegetables and fruits, but do not have any direct access to the consumers. Reaching the masses was a challenge for them and that is where our club stepped in," adds a member.
The students state they are not restricted to creating a market for farmers in and around Chandigarh alone, but have also obtained license for the farmers to set up stalls in "Apni Mandi".
The youths are in talks with several hotels too, as these may be interested in serving better quality organic food to their consumers.
"Our drive focused on how chemical fertilizers diminish the fertility of the soil and chemical pesticides affect our health. The use of organic products is a viable alternative; organic farming has been the original mode of Indian farming since a long time," adds group member Malik.