0:00:08.199,0:00:09.908
We are what we eat,

0:00:09.925,0:00:12.934
but how many of us know[br]what we are actually eating?

0:00:13.164,0:00:15.119
How many of us know

0:00:15.144,0:00:18.165
what food does to the environment[br]before it comes to our plate.

0:00:18.199,0:00:19.795
How many of you know

0:00:19.820,0:00:22.910
what food does to the farmer[br]who is producing that food?

0:00:22.935,0:00:25.298
Do you know? Have you ever thought?

0:00:26.138,0:00:28.630
How many of you think,[br]when you are eating food,

0:00:29.032,0:00:31.284
about the farmer who has produced it

0:00:31.309,0:00:33.764
or the fate of the farmer[br]who has produced it?

0:00:33.789,0:00:35.507
These are some of the questions

0:00:35.532,0:00:39.692
which grappled me[br]when I was studying agriculture.

0:00:41.299,0:00:43.758
While doing my PhD in agriculture,

0:00:43.776,0:00:45.786
I had a choice.

0:00:46.966,0:00:50.840
Like every young boy in the 90s,

0:00:50.841,0:00:54.550
I was also crazy about getting[br]into Indian Civil Service.

0:00:54.875,0:00:57.483
I was reading about the Indian economy.

0:00:57.674,0:00:59.799
I really understood[br]about the Indian economy

0:00:59.800,0:01:01.034
by reading for an exam.

0:01:01.059,0:01:04.263
Finally, by the time[br]I got into the services,

0:01:04.459,0:01:07.219
I was selected for Indian Revenue Service.

0:01:07.370,0:01:11.299
But I also had a choice of joining[br]as an Agricultural Research Scientist.

0:01:11.510,0:01:13.062
It was a tough choice.

0:01:13.787,0:01:16.752
I made my choice to join[br]as an Agricultural Research Scientist.

0:01:16.777,0:01:19.248
I thought, I should continue[br]working with farmers.

0:01:19.722,0:01:21.534
(Applause)

0:01:21.950,0:01:25.635
But that didn't last long,[br]I'll come to that.

0:01:28.241,0:01:31.281
Before I come to that,[br]let's understand: what is our food?

0:01:31.545,0:01:33.921
What are we eating? How safe is our food?

0:01:33.941,0:01:36.606
All of you saw this news, some time back.

0:01:36.668,0:01:42.034
Pesticides residues[br]in soft drinks and bottled water.

0:01:42.979,0:01:44.416
But forgotten the next day.

0:01:44.434,0:01:45.665
Have you ever thought

0:01:45.666,0:01:50.547
how pesticides residues got[br]into this bottled water or soft drinks?

0:01:52.745,0:01:55.734
If bottled water and soft drinks[br]had pesticide residues,

0:01:55.735,0:01:58.975
the water you used to make tea or coffee[br]also must be having.

0:01:58.976,0:02:00.839
But we never worry about it.

0:02:01.129,0:02:04.081
The news is short,[br]the next day we forget about it.

0:02:04.082,0:02:07.670
At least this must be in your memory:[br]noodles having heavy metals.

0:02:07.681,0:02:09.570
How many of you thought,

0:02:09.631,0:02:13.194
how did these heavy metals[br]reach the noodles?

0:02:13.443,0:02:15.377
If lead has to be added to the noodles,

0:02:15.378,0:02:17.775
probably lead is more costly[br]than the noodles.

0:02:18.174,0:02:21.301
Nobody will add it, but it came.[br]How did it come?

0:02:21.321,0:02:25.037
If ingredients used[br]to make noodles had the lead,

0:02:26.499,0:02:29.499
then the 'aata' which you used[br]to make your 'chapati'

0:02:29.503,0:02:32.153
also must be having.

0:02:32.623,0:02:35.590
Or the 'samosa' which you're eating[br]also must be having, right?

0:02:36.727,0:02:39.093
But we don't connect the dots.

0:02:39.103,0:02:42.906
Same story when we hear[br]about pesticide residues in vegetables.

0:02:43.269,0:02:47.799
You all get horrified,[br]but forget it in the evening.

0:02:47.950,0:02:52.216
We all think, if we buy food[br]at a good place,

0:02:52.217,0:02:54.672
or eat it in a good hotel, it's safe.

0:02:54.707,0:02:57.051
Food is only as safe as it is grown.

0:02:57.485,0:02:59.664
End of pipe solutions don't work.

0:03:01.663,0:03:03.842
The pesticides which are[br]used in agriculture,

0:03:04.678,0:03:09.458
less than 1% actually kills the insects,[br]99% gets into the water,

0:03:11.465,0:03:14.025
gets into the air,[br]and comes back into your food.

0:03:14.050,0:03:16.052
We look at it very casually.

0:03:16.163,0:03:19.028
Everything happening around us,[br]we look at it very casually.

0:03:19.148,0:03:20.708
I'll give you an example.

0:03:20.733,0:03:24.284
While having the lunch,[br]I saw people painting there.

0:03:24.309,0:03:26.740
What is that? Spray paint.

0:03:26.920,0:03:28.318
Where does it go?

0:03:29.088,0:03:32.527
Part of it goes onto the board,[br]part of it into the air.

0:03:33.023,0:03:36.025
You were all eating there.[br]It comes there.

0:03:36.450,0:03:39.256
We are all educated,[br]we feel we can make connections.

0:03:39.257,0:03:40.525
We never make them.

0:03:41.061,0:03:44.033
We expect that the farmer[br]will make those connections

0:03:44.128,0:03:46.566
and produce safe food for all of us.

0:03:46.644,0:03:49.169
I think that's there is a disconnect

0:03:49.337,0:03:54.703
between what we observe,[br]what we know, and how we act.

0:03:54.728,0:03:57.640
It is a serious problem.

0:03:58.080,0:04:00.123
It's not only about the pesticides.

0:04:00.394,0:04:03.419
Do you know the eggs[br]that you buy in the market,

0:04:03.656,0:04:05.267
what kind of eggs are you buying?

0:04:05.292,0:04:06.579
They are haploid eggs.

0:04:06.586,0:04:10.866
Haploid means they are produced[br]without male and female meeting together.

0:04:11.589,0:04:15.969
That's why if you hatch the eggs,[br]they won't make chickens.

0:04:16.932,0:04:21.225
But how they are produced?[br]They are produced by using estrogens.

0:04:21.250,0:04:23.314
And what happens to those estrogens?

0:04:23.724,0:04:26.020
When you eat those eggs[br]they'll come back to you.

0:04:26.052,0:04:29.691
That's one reason today[br]the puberty in girls has advanced.

0:04:30.901,0:04:34.706
The gynecological problems[br]in women have increased.

0:04:35.296,0:04:37.412
The breast development[br]in men has increased.

0:04:37.578,0:04:40.464
Last year's India Today's survey shows

0:04:40.765,0:04:43.718
that the largest number[br]of plastic surgeries done in India

0:04:43.743,0:04:45.993
are to remove breasts in men.

0:04:46.243,0:04:50.605
You got into the situation where fruit,[br]which is supposed to be healthy,

0:04:52.515,0:04:54.193
is creating all these problems.

0:04:54.674,0:04:59.606
It's not just the pesticides,[br]or antibiotics, or growth hormones

0:04:59.607,0:05:02.631
which are used in production,[br]but also how they are processed.

0:05:03.201,0:05:08.274
You might have heard, last week,[br]10 days, doing rounds in all the media:

0:05:08.804,0:05:10.474
artificially ripened fruits.

0:05:10.676,0:05:12.773
But why are fruits ripened artificially?

0:05:13.402,0:05:17.289
If all of you want[br]to eat fruits off-season:

0:05:17.290,0:05:19.235
how do they do it?

0:05:19.579,0:05:22.353
If you want mangoes in May,[br]how do you get mangoes?

0:05:22.615,0:05:27.470
You have to cut unripened ones,[br]ripen it artificially, and sell it.

0:05:28.802,0:05:33.383
Bananas which look uniformed yellow.

0:05:34.807,0:05:37.698
What are they?[br]They are all carbon ripened.

0:05:38.959,0:05:41.760
The apples, the shiny apples[br]which you see.

0:05:42.205,0:05:44.570
What are they?[br]When were they produced?

0:05:44.973,0:05:47.473
Where were they produced?[br]Do you know?

0:05:47.613,0:05:50.871
California apples,[br]you get apples from California.

0:05:50.974,0:05:54.012
Can you keep it fresh?[br]They are coated with wax.

0:05:55.195,0:05:58.549
Go back to your home,[br]take an apple from your fridge.

0:05:58.642,0:06:00.788
Just scratch it. You'll see the wax.

0:06:01.874,0:06:03.086
We are eating all that.

0:06:03.111,0:06:05.323
The watermelons which are red in color,

0:06:06.715,0:06:09.405
they are injected with injections, color.

0:06:09.829,0:06:12.059
They are injected with growth hormones.

0:06:12.658,0:06:14.307
The milk which is sold,

0:06:14.308,0:06:17.236
we have seen in news[br]of the last several years,

0:06:17.267,0:06:20.105
the reports say,

0:06:20.106,0:06:23.208
"The milk is contaminated[br]with synthetic milk."

0:06:23.266,0:06:28.816
If you want to have milk[br]at 40 rupees a liter,

0:06:28.817,0:06:30.087
that's what you get.

0:06:30.291,0:06:32.117
We want food cheaper,

0:06:33.606,0:06:36.739
and there is competition[br]between the companies.

0:06:38.159,0:06:40.393
They pay low prices to the farmers.

0:06:40.418,0:06:43.255
They also contaminate it[br]and then get away with that.

0:06:43.280,0:06:45.887
All brands of milk sold in Hyderabad,

0:06:45.912,0:06:49.028
is prone to have been[br]contaminated with synthetic milk.

0:06:49.053,0:06:50.326
GM foods.

0:06:50.745,0:06:54.116
How many of you know about this?[br]How many of you have heard about this?

0:06:54.141,0:06:55.966
Bt Brinjal.

0:06:55.991,0:06:58.554
I'll tell you simply what Bt Brinjal is.

0:06:58.620,0:07:01.790
When pesticide is sprayed from outside,[br]it damages the environment.

0:07:01.830,0:07:06.627
Like I said, 99% goes into the environment[br]only 1% kills the insect.

0:07:06.722,0:07:10.741
So, scientists thought, "Why not[br]producing pesticide in the plant itself?"

0:07:10.905,0:07:13.305
So the plant produces insecticides,

0:07:13.474,0:07:15.824
so that whichever insect[br]eats the plant will die.

0:07:15.994,0:07:17.852
But what happens to us?[br]Who eats that?

0:07:18.083,0:07:22.362
So, there are several bio safety questions[br]in front of us which were never addressed.

0:07:23.287,0:07:29.136
What you see here, yellow, white,[br]golden rice, which is going to come soon.

0:07:29.170,0:07:30.762
Do you know why it was done?

0:07:30.765,0:07:35.888
They say, vitamin A deficiency[br]is a serious problem,

0:07:35.889,0:07:38.288
so we will produce vitamin A in the plant.

0:07:38.313,0:07:43.499
If you eat that rice, you can have[br]as much as vitamin A as possible,

0:07:43.524,0:07:46.654
but do you know vitamin A[br]is a fat soluble vitamin?

0:07:46.679,0:07:50.506
It's not just enough to have vitamin A,[br]but you also need to have enough fat,

0:07:51.117,0:07:54.535
but if you have enough fat in your food[br]you don't need golden rice.

0:07:55.324,0:08:00.307
In 2005, we came across[br]a farmer in Guntur,

0:08:00.332,0:08:02.320
who was cultivating Bt Bhendi.

0:08:02.345,0:08:03.550
We were shocked.

0:08:03.575,0:08:04.975
I said, "How did you get it?"

0:08:05.000,0:08:07.060
He said, "The company gave me the seeds."

0:08:07.097,0:08:10.019
We went to the company,[br]and they said, "We are doing a trial."

0:08:10.044,0:08:11.395
We went to the government.

0:08:11.420,0:08:13.689
The government said,[br]"Yeah, that's their seed."

0:08:14.304,0:08:16.400
They said, "You are not permitted."

0:08:17.057,0:08:19.487
It was taken off in 2005.

0:08:20.447,0:08:24.075
2013, similarly we came across cotton,

0:08:24.100,0:08:26.409
herbicide-tolerant cotton which is grown.

0:08:26.901,0:08:28.710
No permissions.

0:08:28.710,0:08:32.013
In 2009, when Bt brinjal was permitted,[br]there was a public discussion.

0:08:32.224,0:08:35.515
It was the only time[br]there was a public discussion,

0:08:35.517,0:08:38.623
to introduce whether we need[br]a food or not, and it was banned.

0:08:38.664,0:08:42.620
Sometimes, some wise politicians[br]take better decisions.

0:08:43.058,0:08:47.743
But otherwise we would have[br]been flooded with GM foods.

0:08:47.835,0:08:50.261
Today there is case[br]pending in the supreme court,

0:08:50.262,0:08:53.077
there is an expert committee[br]appointed by the supreme court

0:08:53.078,0:08:56.307
which said, "We don't need this[br]for next the 10 years. Let's wait."

0:08:56.487,0:09:00.216
There's a parliamentary standing committee[br]which also said, "We don't need it."

0:09:00.445,0:09:04.632
But you don't know how they are[br]going to come into your plate.

0:09:04.797,0:09:09.957
Food is not only useful energy,[br]but also good for your health.

0:09:10.007,0:09:12.851
It can treat many of the diseases.[br]Food is a medicine.

0:09:12.876,0:09:17.113
It can act as preventive medicine,[br]and can also act as a curative medicine.

0:09:17.138,0:09:21.959
I know many people who are working on[br]treating autism with good food.

0:09:22.843,0:09:24.470
Many problems which you are seeing

0:09:24.471,0:09:29.658
- obesity, diabetes, blood pressure -[br]all are because of the food which you eat.

0:09:29.659,0:09:32.012
You need to make a right choice[br]about your food.

0:09:32.013,0:09:34.480
Second: what food does to the environment.

0:09:34.797,0:09:36.736
Let's look at the ecological footprints.

0:09:36.737,0:09:38.636
How many of you have seen rice fields?

0:09:38.637,0:09:40.372
Almost all, right?

0:09:40.397,0:09:42.936
What comes to your mind[br]when we think of rice fields?

0:09:42.937,0:09:44.887
Full of water.

0:09:44.950,0:09:49.080
How much water does it take[br]to produce an acre of rice?

0:09:50.900,0:09:52.634
6 million liters.

0:09:54.435,0:09:57.488
6 million liters per acre of rice.

0:09:58.112,0:10:02.309
Which is equal to 100 families[br]annual consumption.

0:10:02.344,0:10:06.884
One family of five members[br]eats about a kilogram of rice a day.

0:10:06.909,0:10:11.971
Which is equivalent to[br]a tanker of water: 180 showers.

0:10:11.996,0:10:14.462
All of us want to eat rice.

0:10:14.463,0:10:19.424
You need more and more water[br]for the production of rice.

0:10:19.425,0:10:20.957
Let's make a making calculation:

0:10:20.958,0:10:26.338
how much one meal of rice in Hyderabad[br]costs to the environment?

0:10:26.697,0:10:29.166
It's probably as big as a whole dam.

0:10:29.191,0:10:32.514
We need to worry[br]about the ecological footprints.

0:10:32.562,0:10:36.448
It's not just about the water,[br]about pesticides, about growth hormone.

0:10:36.473,0:10:37.584
Everything.

0:10:37.640,0:10:40.691
What agriculture leaves[br]before it comes to your plate?

0:10:41.932,0:10:44.277
And not just that.[br]What does it do to the farmers?

0:10:44.373,0:10:47.761
The more and more pesticides[br]you spray, insects get resistant.

0:10:47.786,0:10:49.249
They don't work.

0:10:49.571,0:10:51.647
First time you spray,[br]second time you spray,

0:10:51.672,0:10:53.886
third time you spray,[br]fourth time you drink it.

0:10:53.911,0:10:56.449
That's what we have seen[br]all along, farmer suicides.

0:10:56.474,0:11:00.086
The fall out of such things[br]is increasing cost of cultivation,

0:11:00.587,0:11:02.501
but the prices are not increasing.

0:11:02.722,0:11:05.259
Production costs for one kilogram of rice,

0:11:05.284,0:11:08.140
2,100 rupees[br]as per government calculations,

0:11:08.165,0:11:10.605
but today the price is[br]on 1,400 rupees for farmers.

0:11:10.606,0:11:14.831
Today a ton of sugarcane is 2,000 rupees.

0:11:14.832,0:11:17.207
A ton of firewood is 4,000 rupees.

0:11:18.161,0:11:19.754
How can farmers live?

0:11:20.166,0:11:22.307
The policies are also lopsided.

0:11:23.707,0:11:27.781
Today, the average income[br]of 83% of the farmers in this country

0:11:27.782,0:11:31.066
is only 5,000 rupees.

0:11:32.563,0:11:35.017
So farmers have lost[br]their economic independence.

0:11:35.042,0:11:38.249
Not just economic independence,[br]but physical independence as well.

0:11:38.474,0:11:40.579
These are photographs which we have taken

0:11:40.580,0:11:42.937
of farmers standing[br]in queue for fertilizers.

0:11:42.938,0:11:44.624
Standing in queue for seeds.

0:11:44.649,0:11:46.426
Seeds which they can produce.

0:11:47.044,0:11:50.020
Fertilizer which they can make[br]by composting,

0:11:50.021,0:11:51.410
but they are not subsidized.

0:11:51.435,0:11:53.686
If you buy it in a market,[br]they are subsidized.

0:11:53.711,0:11:56.229
Lopsided policies from government.

0:11:56.715,0:11:59.267
All these lead to farmer suicides.

0:11:59.268,0:12:03.530
In last 20 years, 300,000 farmers[br]have committed suicide.

0:12:03.531,0:12:05.176
Every day about 48.

0:12:05.503,0:12:09.688
What is the point about just discussing[br]the dark side of the picture?

0:12:10.089,0:12:13.250
How much and what can we do[br]to change the situation.

0:12:13.313,0:12:17.053
Some of us working in agriculture[br]at various institutions came together,

0:12:17.057,0:12:20.724
and we started an organization[br]called Center for Sustainable Agriculture,

0:12:20.746,0:12:22.045
in 2004.

0:12:22.046,0:12:25.515
We started working with farmers,[br]telling them how they can move away

0:12:25.540,0:12:29.364
from the high external input[br]base agriculture

0:12:29.389,0:12:32.178
to low external input based agriculture.

0:12:32.449,0:12:33.739
It was not easy,

0:12:33.740,0:12:36.964
but what we found is across the country[br]there were wonderful experiences.

0:12:36.989,0:12:40.573
But all those experiences[br]were taught in ideological frameworks.

0:12:41.247,0:12:42.718
They don't talk to each other.

0:12:42.719,0:12:44.447
There are good things and bad things,

0:12:44.472,0:12:47.442
if they would discuss with each other[br]it would have been good,

0:12:47.443,0:12:49.095
but they never talk to each other.

0:12:49.120,0:12:51.464
Mainstream institutions[br]never worried about them.

0:12:51.489,0:12:53.812
So we brought all the practices together,

0:12:53.837,0:12:57.476
evolved what we called[br]sustainable agricultural practices.

0:12:57.982,0:13:00.348
The first success came in Kulukulla.

0:13:00.649,0:13:04.413
Kulukulla is village in Kamang district[br]which became completely pesticide free.

0:13:04.442,0:13:07.523
The village, which was spending[br]about 6 million per annum,

0:13:07.524,0:13:09.833
they completely stopped using pesticides.

0:13:09.834,0:13:11.254
(Applause)

0:13:13.305,0:13:18.195
The Agriculture minister came[br]and said, "Wonderful. What do you want?"

0:13:18.646,0:13:23.938
The farmers said, "Make[br]Andhra Pradesh pesticide free."

0:13:24.503,0:13:27.635
He was amazed. He said,[br]"Certainly I'll do. But what do you want?"

0:13:27.636,0:13:31.896
I said, "We are happy with what we have.[br]Just change all agricultural practices."

0:13:32.044,0:13:36.674
He brought all the scientists[br]of the department of agriculture together

0:13:36.675,0:13:38.266
to see and then make a change.

0:13:38.267,0:13:41.876
They said, "Sir, this is one village.[br]We can't do it. It is not possible."

0:13:41.890,0:13:43.287
Then came Enabavi.

0:13:43.288,0:13:46.457
This is about 80 kilometers from here,[br]completely organic village.

0:13:47.058,0:13:48.347
The last three years,

0:13:48.348,0:13:50.714
more than 10,000 people[br]have visited the village

0:13:50.716,0:13:52.512
to know how they are doing farming.

0:13:52.513,0:13:55.603
But this also has not changed[br]anything under government.

0:13:56.004,0:13:57.532
But consumers have changed.

0:13:57.533,0:14:00.404
Many people have started[br]understanding what is good for them.

0:14:00.405,0:14:03.972
This is an advertisement[br]which is The Hindu uses for itself.

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This is a village called Dorli.

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Dorli is in Vardha.

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After Telangana, you hear[br]lots of suicides from Vardha.

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In 2005, the village was put up for sale,

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farmers decided we can't do farming.

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They put up village for sale.

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We went there in 2006 and said,[br]"Can we start working together?"

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Today all of them have repaid their loans,

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all of them are back to farming.

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(Applause)

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It's possible. It's possible.

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All examples are in front of us.

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We also started working

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with the woman self-help groups[br]in Andhra Pradesh.

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These are cover stories[br]of "Down To Earth" magazine,

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which tracked the whole change.

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We started with 225 acres in 2005.

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Today its 3.5 million acres[br]in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together,

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pesticide free.

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(Applause)

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50% of use of pesticide[br]in the state has come down.

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We were third in the country[br]in terms of per acre pesticide used,

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today we are 20th in the country.

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(Applause)

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This was part of a show[br]on Satyamev Jayate,

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some of you may have seen it.

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In this show we had[br]an interesting discussion.

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The other side was the largest[br]pesticide seller in this country.

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Towards the end Amir Khan asked me[br]a question, "I am fully convinced

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with what you're saying[br]and what you're doing.

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It is possible to do it India.

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But how do I convince[br]this man who is sitting here?"

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I said, "Ask his brother,

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His brother is the largest[br]organic exporter in this country."

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(Applause)

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And he said, "Yes."

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That shows that people see it as business.

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If pesticide sells, they sell pesticides,[br]if organic sells, they sell organic.

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You buy pesticides[br]or other organic pesticides

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or certificate from us saying[br]you haven't used any of these things.

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Farmers are made into consumers.

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But what are our consumers doing?

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Then what we did is

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we brought some consumers[br]in Hyderabad together

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to form a consumer cooperative[br]called Sahaja Aharam.

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We also brought all farmers together[br]to form farmers cooperative,

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so that they can market directly.

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Today we have 20 farmer cooperatives

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who produce organically[br]and directly sell in the market.

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While many of you worry[br]about organic food prices,

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the organic Sahaja Aharam prices[br]are 20% lower than the market prices,

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and 75% of what the consumer pays[br]goes to the farmers.

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In the regular market it is[br]just 20% which goes to the farmer.

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(Applause)

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What do I see from here?

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I see a ray of hope.

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It's possible.

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If all of us can join hands together,[br]we can make a change.

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But it's a long way to go[br]in terms of Government Policies.

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Still there is a serious crisis[br]in agriculture.

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Yesterday, you may have seen[br]about farmer's suicide.

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Today, this morning's newspaper,[br]you may have seen.

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Numbers of farmers are dying.

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It's a responsibility of all of us.

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Business as usual is not an option.

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We need to change as consumers,[br]we need change as farmers.

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We all need to come together[br]to pressurize government

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to make a change.

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Otherwise, the future is very, very bleak.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)