Local Food!

Subrata Singh

Trying to understand how much the food travels to reach us? Today, we get very few products (fruits & vegetables) that are plucked in the morning or the evening of the earlier day, except for the ones that we pluck from the small patches one may cultivate. The freshness is missing, we get several of them through the year - thanks to the cold storage networks.

An imagination of local circular economy in food systems

Markets have other plans for us. It wants us to eat food from all over the world. It wants to bring all food packaged in best possible way, at few xx the price it is purchased from the farmers. We will get fruits and vegetables that are graded, ripened, polished or coloured artificially - best looking ones but putting our lives at risk. Market cares for profit, it doesn't care for fresh, good and healthy (though packaged as fresh, good and healthy). We are lured into buying such products and keeping in our fridges for few more days!

How do we make our food more local? Is it possible for us to orchestrate the same? Can we demand from different levels of governments to enable and ensure this? We know local governments have power to do so! Can having food-miles in products help? We know farmers can definitely benefit if fresh products are sold in local markets @similar prices of that of its counterpart from other parts of the country/world.

We need to transform market designs to change this? We know there is power in the citizens to enable this? We need markets where products -that are harvested within 12 hour or less be available in the markets! We may need to define an area that we call local? We know we will not have all products that we get now, but we would have seasonal stuff - for us to look forward to, in the particular season.

It's my wish! If others agree, it can become a larger wish!