NYERI, Kenya, Jul 7 – As coffee prices in the county improve, a section of farmers from Mathira constituency have embraced organic farming as a way of upgrading production and the quality of their produce. The farmers who are plying their trade at Kanyama village say they no longer use conventional fertilizers, but instead use organic fertilizers as well as manure in order to ensure their crop conforms with the standards of European markets. The farmers say they hope that their produce will triple and that their soils are not affected by residues left behind by harmful fertilizers. ''I started farming with organic fertilizers this year and I have already started seeing change''“I started farming with organic fertilizers this year and I have already started seeing change. For instance, my coffee bushes have increased production, ” said Jane Wanjiku, a farmer based in Mathira said. Job kareithi who produces an organic fertilizer called Biodeposit says that many farmers are increasingly using his product due to its benefit. “We as manufactures are encouraging farmers to use organic farm inputs because many consumers abroad follow on what farmers use to grow their produce at the farm level,” he said. “Some coffee gets rejected due to chemical residues that exceed the set parameters especially in European markets,” said Kareithi, adding that is why he ventured into making organic fertilizers. To encourage farmers to take his method of farming, Kareithi says that they have grouped farmers in zones not only in Nyeri county but also in Kirinyaga where they conduct training sessions on the proper use of organic fertilizers. The move comes at a time when the government through the ministry of agriculture has embarked on a campaign to increase coffee production by rising the number of income farmers earn. Among the raft of measures that have been announced by Cabinet Secretary of Agriculture Peter Munya is the new coffee act that will see the return of a coffee board and the establishment of the coffee exchange backed by a vibrant coffee auction.
The country’s production has gone to an all-time low of 20,000 metric tonnes as opposed to triple production of more than 100 metric tonnes realized in the eighties. Source: Capitalfm.co.ke/business If you would love to feed your family healthy and organic meals but don’t know where to start, you have come to the right place! In this article, we will share a few simple, yet fantastic recipes that are easy to follow. These recipes will finally let you prepare a healthy, clean, and organic meal for your family without breaking the bank. Ready? Let us begin! 1. Cassava Flour Pancakes This is something to try if you love your pancake thick, healthy and organic. These cassava flour pancakes will keep you filled and healthy as you start the day. Ingredients (for a serving of three)
. Sesame Fried Rice This recipe is a little bit different from the common fried rice recipe. Usually, fried recipes require you to scrambled eggs at the end of the cooking. But in this recipe, you cook the rice with the eggs from the beginning slowly to not brown the eggs. You can also add a side of Organic meat, green onions, or any other cooked veggies for a full experience., Ingredients (For A Serving Of Three)
3. Tomato Carrot Soup If you want something simple, yet filling, the tomato carrot soup is a great choice. Ingredients
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4. Seared Wild Salmon In Lemongrass Broth Ingredients
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As earlier stated, these recipes are simple and do not take a lot of time to complete. If you want to switch to the organic way of life, this is a great starting point. Source: Warrington Worldwide website Highest levels of ‘fluid intelligence’ associated with better diet, cleaner air and good living conditions Children who eat organically produced food have been linked with better cognitive development, an international study has shown. Researchers in Spain examined levels of children’s “fluid intelligence”, which is the ability to solve reasoning problems and use “working memory” – the ability to retain new information while it is needed in the short term. Children who eat organically produced food have been linked with better cognitive development, an international study has shown. Researchers in Spain examined levels of children’s “fluid intelligence”, which is the ability to solve reasoning problems and use “working memory” – the ability to retain new information while it is needed in the short term. The team said their findings suggested healthier diets could have a direct impact on the development of children’s brains. Lead author Jordi Júlvez, who worked alongside academics at Barcelona’s Institute for Global Health, said: “Organic diets are richer than fast food diets in nutrients necessary for the brain, such as fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants, which together may enhance cognitive function in childhood.” Scientists also said factors such as eating junk food, living in overcrowded houses and exposure to domestic tobacco smoke were associated with reduced levels of fluid intelligence. In addition, exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) indoors was associated with lower working memory scores. The research team used data from 1,298 children aged 6-11 years from six European countries – the UK, France, Spain, Greece, Lithuania and Norway. They examined 87 environmental factors the children were exposed to in utero, including air pollution, traffic, noise, various chemicals and lifestyle factors, and another 122 factors they were exposed to during childhood. They said their aim was to analyse the influence these factors could have on the development and maturation of the human brain. “During childhood the brain is not yet fully developed for efficient defence against environmental chemicals and is particularly sensitive to toxicity, even at low levels that do not necessarily pose a risk to a healthy mature brain,” the researchers said. The authors said the research was unique as their method took into account the totality of exposures rather than focusing on a single one. They said this provided a better understanding of the complexity of multiple environmental exposures and their simultaneous effect on children’s brain development. They noted that there has previously been little research on the relationship between diet and cognitive function, but fast food intake has been associated with lower academic development success and some previous studies have also reported positive associations between organic diets and executive function scores. Organic diets are richer than fast food diets in nutrients necessary for the brain, such as fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants“In our study we found better scores in fluid intelligence and working memory with higher organic food intake and lower fast food intake,” said Dr Júlvez.
In contrast, exposure to tobacco smoke and indoor PM2.5 during childhood may negatively affect cognitive function by enhancing pro-inflammatory reactions in the brain, the researchers suggested. But Dr Júlvez, cautioned that “the number of people living together in a home is often an indicator of the family’s economic status, and that contexts of poverty favour less healthy lifestyles, which in turn may affect children’s cognitive test scores”. The research is published in the journal Environmental International. Source: Newpaper Indepedent on the web Kalamata is a city in Peloponnese, Greece which has given its name to the superb quality Kalamata Olives or Kalamon Olives. The city has its own Olive oil school and is the capital of Messinia county where the olive trees groves dominate over any other tree cultivation. Whole picture of Kalamata finishes with the organisation of its own olive oil competition and olive festival: Kalamata Olive oil competition This year results are: Category Kalamata PDO extra virgin olive oil Gold medal: Agrexpo Faris PDO Kalamata extra virgin olive oil Silver medal: Agropoly PDO Kalamata extra virgin olive oil Organic Extra Virgin Olive oil CategoryGold medal: Kyklopas Ages Organic extra virgin olive oil Silver medal: Mani Organic extra virgin olive oil Bronze medal: Kondea Organic extra virgin olive oil High phenolic extra virgin olive oilGold medal: EnKardia Ultra Premium extra virgin olive oil
Bronze medal Agropoly Organic High Phenolic extra virgin olive oil Within the frame of the Kalamata olive oil competion and festival, praise/credit have been given to the following companies and their products 1st Praise: Karapata private company - Product : Lioklado extra virgin olive oil 2nd Praise: Maria Dimitrakopoulou - Product : EnKardia Traditional extra virgin olive oil 3rd Praise: Eustathios Georgakilas - Product: Georgakilas extra virgin olive oil What is Organic extra virgin Olive oil?
To explain what Organic extra virgin olive oil is, we have to start from the name term which has 2 parts. - The first part is the adjective '' Organic '', which is used when the olive tree grower applies organic farming standards on the cultivation of olive tree as these have been defined by European Union regulation EC 834/2007. When ''Organic'' is placed on a product label and before the name then the grower must be certified showing the organic farming standards are followed. This is testified by the audits executed by the relevant regulatory bodies responsible for providing such accreditation. Such labelling requirement is followed by other logos or emblems such as the green starred leaf for EU - The second part is the extra virgin olive oil. Within this definition, there are 2 sections First one is the Virgin Olive oil and according to the Olive oil – Institute of Olive Council, virgin olive oils are the oils obtained from the fruit of the olive tree (Olea europaea L. ) solely by mechanical or other physical means under conditions, particularly thermal conditions, that do not lead to alterations in the oil, and which have not undergone any treatment other than washing, decantation, centrifugation and filtration. Second one is Extra an adjective which is the most important element of a virgin olive oil. Extra Virgin Olive oil has superior taste quality and does not have taste (sensory) faults. Its chemical laboratory analysis should show results below certain limits: one of them is acidity and more specifically of no more 0.8 % on free fatty acids. It appears to have a plethora of health benefits especially the organic ones as they do not have residues of pesticides used to fight off an insect which damages the olive fruit. The lower than 0.8% acidity, the better quality of the extra virgin olive oil is. An extra virgin olive oil with acidity 0.5% is better than the one with acidity of 0.7%. This implies better harvesting method i.e. careful selection of olives and better process condition in the olive mill. Organic food is produced without the use of toxic pesticides containing heavy metals, insecticides, growth hormones and antibiotics. The organic food does not contain chemical preservatives or genetically modified organisms either. Furthermore, the application of irradiation, industrial solvents, or synthetic food additives is prohibited in food processing for making packaged organic foods. If a food product is labelled as organic, then its cultivation or raising in the case of animals should be following certain farming standards and methods. The appropriate application of these farming standards is checked yearly by auditing bodies and a certification is awarded to the farmer or grower. Certified organic food production system is a heavily regulated system and it is not an easy matter as some may believe Only then the farmer or grower can use the word ’organic’ on a food product label of theirs. In Europe, this is further establised and materialised by placing the Organic Leaf logo made by stars on the packaging as shown below along with a code related to certification body in the corresponding country. Organic food never contains GMOContinue on What does organic mean?According to the European Union legislation, the aim of organic food production is to use practices and methods of farming which protect the environment: soil, water, plants and animals and farmers and growers.
In order to maintain soil fertility and plant and animals free from diseases, various approaches are used, namely:
Such is the impact of conventional farming and agriculture that traces of toxic pesticides have been found in small rivers across all Europe, and in US, pesticide residues are in 70% of produce sold (Guardian, 29/05/19). According to the same source in September 2016, it was mentioned that humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth's remaining wilderness in the last 25 years through various ''human'' activities. The weedkiller Round up-glyphosate will never ever be used in organic farming and cultivation, as it is a synthetic toxic and carcinogenic chemical and serious contaminant of the soil and water, including underground water reserves. Organic farming practices never contaminate the soil or waters. European Union organic farming rules cover agricultural products, including aquaculture and yeast. They encompass every stage of the production process, from seeds to the final processed food. This means that there are specific provisions covering a large variety of products, such as: • seeds and propagating material such as cuttings, rhizome etc. from which plants or crops are grown; • living products or products which do not need further processing; • feed; • products with multiple ingredients or processed agricultural products for use as food. EU regulations on organic production exclude products from fishing and hunting of wild animals but include harvest of wild plants when certain natural habitat conditions are respected. There are specific rules for wine and aquaculture too. Source: organicekiosk.com A bit of our lack of knowledge and a bit of usage of not accurate wording from chefs side, we have ended up watching on the web and on TV, episodes on cooking and chefs calling the extra virgin olive oil just oil! Of course, calling the extra virgin olive oil just Oil is incorrect and inaccurate, olive oil is not accurate either though. ”Oil” should be wiped off from our culinary vocabulary. In certain countries, we have seen people calling it “regular” but they mean is the refined olive oil which is a a very low quality (=extremely low quality), product. Extra virgin olive oil is not oil and it is not even olive oil. If all of us love the olive juice, we should start naming this natural product properly. Simirarly, we would not call a silver piece as golden piece because both of them are metals, would we? There is an exception for the usage of ”olive oil” though: ”olive oil” is the name of the juice from olives generally and by itself it consists of a category of products. One of the reason this exception exists in several languages is to differentiate ”olive oil” from the other vegetables oils (juices from vegetables), generally cheap and without health benefits at all, such as sunflower or rapeseed oil. Let’s see together why extra virgin olive oil can not be named as olive oil. There are several types of juice from olive:
b. previously used virgin olive oil mainly in cooking and frying, and c. other oxidised virgin olive oil products. In our opinion, consumers should not consume this product at all. It appears to have no health benefits and no taste or aromas at all.
In certain countries, there is a usage of ”pure olive oil” and we can say categorically that there is no such thing as purity in olive oil as olive oil is a very low quality product which is derived from the refining process of used ”olive oil” products (through cooking, baking, and other oxidised olive oil products). Our advice here is to always read the label of the product! It is our obligation as consumers to do so! By law, in all countries, all olive oil products must have label with all the above information clearly stated. Source: https://organicekiosk.com/oliveoilcategories/ Across Europe, small rivers are now contaminated with traces of pesticides, and in US, pesticide residues are found in 70% of produce (Guardian, 29 May 2019).
Why do we need more of these frightening date to understand that there is serious problem? This problem becomes immediately a serious threat to our health and therefore continuation of life on this planet. Glyphosate (Round up), genetically modified organisms and material, armitraz, neonecotinoids are some of the names of serious contaminants in our food. Worldwide consumers remain in the darkness with regards to risks/hazards posed to our health derived from use of pesticides and their leftovers (residues) on the cultivated food crops. Pesticides are toxic chemical compounds, which can easily damage vital organs, or disrupt critical biological processes within human body. As the time passes by, we have become so senseless that we do not see something serious things happening in front of our eyes, and we remain unconvinced that pesticides can be seriously harmful. Organic farmers, growers and producers have to inform more and more consumers. It is their obligation to do so apart from selling their organic harvest or products. We have found an interesting inititiative called PAN UK, a pesticide action network: promoting safe and sustainable alternatives to hazardous pesticides. It is wise to develop more of these initiatives as soon as possible. Soon this world might not have anything which will not be contaminated with pesticides residues Globally, it seems that organic food sales have gone up year after year. We have been wondering why we need to put the figures first before our health in order to see organic foods consumption increase.
Why we need to make the soil ''dead'' by having a massive concentration of toxic pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals into it when conventional farming practices are applied? Organic products do not need to be sprayed with toxic chemicals to be protected from diseases. There are numerous studies about the serious health risks when non-organic foods products are consumed. Toxins and heavy metals are concentrated in fat cells and tissues by eating foods of non organic farming. Washing the fruits before eating is not enough anymore, needless to say that you can not rinse off any chemicals from a ready meal. It is intriguing to check the increase of cancer cases across the world related to the consumption of conventional food. Apart from chemicals in our foods, these toxic substances remain in the soil for years or rinsed off by rain. The latter phenomenon may lead to the sea and rivers pollution while the former leads quickly to soil quality deterioration. Lowering soil quality means no cultivation of anything at all after a few years. What is so special about organic honey? - In organic beekeeping, beehives are placed away from any conventional crop cultivation, at least 5 km, so the bees will not be travelling to collect nectar and pollen from such crops. Bee can travel up to 5 km to collect nectar and pollen (its food) from flowers. - During beekeeping, the bees might acquire diseases and one of them is a parasite called varroa which can exterminate whole beehives. In order to fight off varroa, conventional beekeeping uses super toxic chemicals such as armitraz while organic beekeeping uses oxalic acid which is an organic compound found in many plants. - Certified organic honey does not contain GMO pollen as the beehives are not placed or used in countries where the GMO crops are cultivated. Certified organic beekeepers are checked/audited by the regulatory bodies on this strict requirement. We found an interesting video to watch: Silence of the bees |
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