Metropolitan cities are a binary – while they’re apparently built on the model of globalisation, they also have a way of trapping you in and shutting you out from the core mechanics of this world, which is essentially nature. Globalisation is said to have come at the cost of extreme materialism that has cut us off from our natural roots, where people live in harmony with their surroundings.

Unsplash

So, while you might be connected to the world in a physical sense – in that you drive an American car and your smartphone is manufactured in China and you eat dragon fruit sourced from Vietnam – you’re unaware about where the food on your plate comes from – food that connects you to the roots of earth.

Human beings began farming around 12,000 years ago and agriculture changed the landscape of our society. We went from hunter-gathering nomads to permanent settlers because farming practices allowed us to have a reliable source of food. Civilisations, cities and societies sprouted from agriculture and population erupted, from a mere 5 million people globally 10,000 years ago to 7.4 billion today.

Traditionally Homo sapiens are a farming society but rapid advancement in technology coupled with the steep population rise, food demands had to be met and quickly. We’ve placed ourselves far away from the farming practices that began with the advent of agriculture – for thousands of years, it was a culture that was practised without the use of chemical fertilisers.

Kavita Mukhi, an eco-nutritionist, is taking people back to their roots. She’s the founder of Farmers’ Market, an organic venture that first opened doors in 2010 and now runs every Sunday in Mumbai’s Bandra. Through this weekly event, she brings people closer to not only organic farmers but also other organic products such as clothes and cosmetics.

Kavita Mukhi

“India and the world were organic, to begin with. With industrialisation and the introduction of chemicals, organic stopped being the order of the day,” she told Indiatimes.

Now farmers who are attempting to go back to being organic have to bear the burden of losses in terms of time and money. In order to produce organic food, farmers first have to balance the acidity of soil by enriching it with nutrients, which can take many months and even years. It’s a patient process of simply ploughing earth with natural fertilisers such as cow dung.

Kavita Mukhi

“Farmers who are going back to organic practices, for up to two years do nothing but plough soil. They’re losing precious time and that means money,” she added.

Farmers are trying to recapture the wisdom of organic agricultural practices, which were once natural to the human way of life, but faded along the years in the wake of large-scale, widespread industrialisation and capitalism.

According to Kavita, organic farming is growing crops without chemical fertilisers and pesticides. If you add another layer of meaning to it, then, Kavita says, it’s also multi-cropping. That is, when you grow multiple crops so that the soil doesn’t drain of one type of nutrients. Growing a variety of crops also manages pests better.

It’s the only sustainable way forward, she said.

Kavita breaks the misconception of the payoff between organic farming and mass production.

“Feeding large numbers of people depends on consumers”, she says, "And there is enough food in India’s godowns."

It’s just not being distributed and instead of going to waste. The philosophy of organic farming goes beyond just feeding people. It’s about preserving the earth – the earth as a whole that also includes dust, that is, soil – for future generations.

Kavita Mukhi

The long-term benefits of eating organic produce are huge.

"Among them is better health, better nutrition, less illness, stronger immunity, rehabilitated soil, more money for farmers so that the next generation remains in agriculture, and also the wisdom of farming is passed on," elaborates Kavita.

Currently, the perception is that organic food is a niche and restricted to consumers in the higher economic bracket. However, it’s actually a lack of consciousness that is creating the roadblock between people and organic food.

The consciousness of eating healthy came to Kavita when she had her son, who was suffering from colic, an irritation in the stomach common enough in babies. Awareness is often the result of an epiphany, and Kavita’s son was hers. We’re all in need of that light-bulb moment both for ourselves and nature. Consuming chemically produced food is harming us, and it’s harming our nature.

The connection of humans with nature runs deep, so deep that it nurtures us how we nurture it. If we want to prevent the Earth from looming, irreversible damage, then we must live organically. And to live organically is to live in harmony with nature.