What's on your plate today?

Wash the vegetables thoroughly, says the cooking rule book. But, what it does not say is how ‘rigorous’ the wash has to be and what kind of detergent you must use to rid the vegetable or the fruit off all the dirt and pesticides it may have imbibed while growing into a plum object.

In that case, will mere ‘washing well in flowing water’ do?

The APMC yard, or the Agricultural Produce and Marketing Committee yard in the city, needs immediate attention as far as hygiene is concerned. Nearly 25,000 - 30,000 tonnes of vegetables and fruits enter and leave this area from various taluks in the district. It is time the officials took note of the dire need for hygiene, for the sake of all Mysoreans’ health!

About 150 local autos and 30 lorries ply in and out of the premises with vegetables and fruits. While some bring vegetables from KR Pet, Periyapatna, HD Kote, Nanjangud, Pandavapura, T Narsipura among other areas.

Some vegetables travel as far as Delhi and Jaipur depending upon the bulk orders.
The seven and half acres of this place, sure needs some ‘revolution’ of sorts to ensure vegetables are not left rotting and uncleared along the paths. The godowns have been rendered waste with doors and wire meshes missing from most of them.

Chairman of APMC, H  S   Nagaraju says a rent of Rs 14,000 was fixed for each godown. “Since most traders didn’t want to store vegetables, owing to different reasons, the godowns have been rendered waste,” he added. The main problem that haunts APMC is the shortage of space for the ever growing trade. But, expansion plans may have to wait for some years now, since the officials don’t want to take it up in a hurry.  

Silver lining

Despite the fact that the place is dirty and can turn anyone off the veggies and fruits for life, it can also be a major source of compost and biogas, if the potential is tapped in the right manner. The place,  according to an estimate generates few thousand tonnes of waste which is usually dumped somewhere.  Instead, a biogas plant and a compost unit set up at the place can sure earn some income for the place to maintain itself neat  and tidy.