In the last few years there have been several newspaper articles, social media posts, and TV programmes about how vegetables, fruits, and fish are contaminated with harmful chemicals which are hazardous for human consumption.
Many of the major retailers and wholesale markets are repeatedly raided and fail “on the spot testing” executed by magistrates who issue judgments then and there and levy fines. The incidents are then covered by the media but there is never any follow up on what was done to rectify the problem.
Truth be told, the problem is a complex one and a specific solution not clearly evident. Unlike more mature markets where cold vehicles and storage facilities are used in the supply chain process, in Bangladesh there is no cold chain infrastructure for wide scale use.
This means farmers and traders have to be more creative in taking produce to market, harvesting at the right time, and allowing for ripening whilst being transported to the market, depending on the distance that needs to be covered.
Vegetable, fruit and fish traders often use formalin and other chemicals to prolong the naturally occurring degradation process. These chemicals keep the produce looking ripe and fresh for a longer time, which decreases the amount of wastage through produce rotting and ultimately increases sales.
Quite obviously, vegetables, fruits and fish that look better will sell better and formalin helps produce to look pristine for a long time, so it is well liked by traders and re-sellers.
What is worrying is sometimes the contamination of produce, especially in the case of fruits and vegetables, happens at the absolute root level even before the traders come in to the picture.
Farmers often contaminate their harvest by over-using pesticides and other harmful chemicals like DDT and carbides to protect their crop from insects and sometimes expedite ripening of their crop. “The improper use of pesticides is a wide scale phenomenon in Bangladesh.
“Psychologically, as crops near being ready for harvesting farmers see their crop as money and want to ensure that their crop is not ruined by insects and start over-spraying insecticides right up until they harvest,” said Professor Dr MA Rahim, Department of Horticulture, Bangladesh Agriculture University.
Another issue is the over use of chemical fertilizers in the soil which farmers believe will increase their harvest yield but actually over time the exact opposite happens. The exaggerated application of chemical fertilizers also affects the composition of produce which we as consumers then eat.
There have been studies done which show longterm consumption of some of the chemicals found in vegetables, fruits and fish in Bangladesh can cause, in the longer term, cancer, lung and liver disorders, skin disease, asthma, weakening of the immune system and even affect the fertility of women.
In most of Bangladesh, organic farming does not exist because of the strict guidelines that are associated with organic farming. It takes almost several years of soil preparation before a farm can be considered organic.
In Bangladesh we can actually hope for safe farms – a term given to those farms producing produce safe for human consumption. The usual ingredient mix of a safe farm is one which uses limited chemical fertilizers and relies primarily on organic fertilizers and predominantly uses bio-pesticides rather than chemical pesticides and that too the last spray would have to have been applied at least three weeks before harvest.
It is relatively simple for a farm or farmer to be transformed into a safe farm or farmer but requires training and steady monitoring.
In Dhaka, our vibrant capital city of Bangladesh, there are over ten significant fresh produce markets, the largest one still running on the back roads of Karwan Bazar between 11pm and 7am. Vegetables, fish and fruits from all over the country arrive in these markets in truck loads and are then redistributed amongst wholesalers, who in turn supply retailers, institutions and other traders. Sales at these markets are done in volume and to a large degree there is no tracking of where any of the produce originated.
Some of the produce will be harmful for human consumption due to residues from chemical pesticides or formalin and some will be absolutely fine for human consumption. The main problem is that it is virtually impossible to differentiate.
Even if we were to assume the men with the “testing kits” actually knew what they were doing and the results were 100% accurate, they are not present at the markets every day. After the commotion caused by a raid, things revert to business as usual quite quickly. There is usually some media coverage, people get upset but nothing much changes, mainly because there is no quick fix solution to this problem.
In most cases, suppliers to major retailers, hotels, restaurants and institutions source produce from wholesale markets such as Karwan Bazar. They are then supposed to wash the vegetables and fruits in warm water and then supply their customers. Procurement usually happens late night or early morning and customer supply takes place in the first half of the day.
Washing the produce helps dissolve some of the harmful chemicals as does cooking the produce, but some can remain as the produce is consumed by the end user. Long term consumption of these chemicals by an individual can cause a plethora of ailments as mentioned earlier.
So what is everyone doing about this issue exactly? Not much to be honest. Those who are wealthy and aware about this issue have started to grow their own vegetables and fruits. What about the vast majority of people who don’t have farm houses near the city? The starting point is consumer awareness and a demand from the public that they deserve to be able to purchase safe food from the market and their government should ensure this is regulated very strictly.
Most Institutions in Bangladesh use predictive pricing model and tender their food requirement. In the case of vegetables and fruits, vendors provide a price for each item they are bidding for and have to supply at that price should they win the tender.
There is no scope for consideration that safe produce will in all likelihood cost more than produce procured at Karwan Bazar because more time and effort and management oversight is required to ensure safety.
Many have stopped buying bananas because they have been riddled with carbides and DDT in the past, which are particularly harmful for humans if consumed. We lost a bid for 10,000 bananas at a leading hospital because we were two takas more expensive per banana.
This means the hospital chose to serve 10,000 people potentially contaminated bananas because our safe Bananas would have cost them Tk20,000 more for the month! Institutions, including restaurants and hotels, need to realise they have a fiduciary responsibility to their employees/customers to take the right steps to ensure food they are serving is safe.
A senior officer of one of the leading retail chains, who was also concerned about the safety of the produce being sold at his outlet, appreciated the fact that we had a range of safe vegetables and fruits we could offer. Nevertheless, in many of the retail outlets the vegetable and fruit section is outsourced to a third party who simply profit shares or pays rent to the retailer.
In most cases, the third party is also sourcing produce from Karwan Bazar over-night and delivering to retailers early morning. Furthermore, there was concern over our “I AM SAFE TO EAT” branding on our packaging because it insinuated the rest of the produce not supplied by us was not safe to eat which is also not the case.
However, even though we are one of the few companies engaged in safe farming we have not been able to offer our produce through any major retailer till date. Some retailers say they engage in farming on their own but it is illogical to expect a retailer to farm 70 different types of fruits and vegetables. At some stage, they involve an outside party or source from the wholesale markets.
So what do I feel needs to happen for things to get better?
Education and training for farmers
They say prevention is the best cure. Farmers need to be educated about how, when and which pesticides should be used in the farming process. They should be made aware of Good Agricultural Processes (GAP) and also advised on crop care and fertilizer usage.
This needs to be implemented nationwide. Many living in the city sometimes forget we are an agrarian economy and agriculture is still our largest industry standing at over $32 billion annually, that too, mostly domestically generated. This training is more a role for NGOs and the government.
Certification, tracking and testing
There needs to be a simple cost-effective way for certifying farms and farmers who are farming properly and deemed to be supplying safe produce. These farms and farmers should be audited regularly to ensure standards are being maintained.
Every time produce is sold in bulk to a trader or end buyer there should be some system to track that sale so that, if ever asked, a trader can furnish information about where his/her produce was sourced from and hence validated if whether or not the produce came from a registered safe farm or farmer.
Testing for chemicals should be far simpler than it is currently for conscientious retailers, restaurants, institutions, and traders so they can regularly test the produce they are handling to ensure their safe supply chain is intact.
Similarly, random samples should be taken on a daily basis from all the major wholesale markets on a daily basis to keep track of the levels of chemical ridden products coming into the market. If traders are supervised and made aware of the issue repeatedly, they will pressure suppliers to only supply safe produce.
The point I am trying to make is there needs to be a push factor to get traders to change business practices, which would include action against repeat offenders.
Certification and endorsement of safe farms and farmers need to be strategised in synergy with any push toward lobbying retailers, hotels, restaurants and institutions to switch to buying from safe food suppliers but they need to be able to differentiate between a non-safe food supplier and a safe food supplier. Furthermore, good auditing of those claiming to be safe food suppliers needs to also be in place and thought of.
How can hotels, restaurants and institutions contribute?
In my experience, most business owners are conscientious and want to avoid pushing unsafe produce to their customers. Look for safe farmed products and insist on verifying that produce being supplied by vendors is safe and that they can demonstrate where the produce is being sourced from and how they ensure good farming practices were adopted.
Be prepared to pay a little more for safe produce because more management oversight, training and time is needed to ensure chemical free produce than produce sourced from wholesale markets. It is important to remember how little vegetables and fruits in Bangladesh cost in comparison to other food items; hence a 20% price differential doesn’t equate to very much in absolute terms.
How can retailers contribute?
For the time being, give those companies that are certified or can demonstrate safe and good agricultural practices their own rack space. Allow them to brand as they choose and charge a premium but let the customers choose and at least have a safe option. Eventually, the safe produce suppliers will naturally push out the normal vendors because customers will demand safe produce when given the option.
Allow capitalism to solve the problem
If you knew some of the vegetables you were purchasing from your local grocery store might be hazardous for your health in the long run, wouldn’t you be willing to pay more for produce that was actually good for your health and tasted a lot better (unfortunately, they won’t often look better than a pristine piece of fruit riddled with formalin?) For most people the answer would be yes.
Customers need to ask questions and demand safe produce from their employers, retailers and restaurants. The press needs to get involved and continuously write articles and conduct surveys. Eventually, it will simply be bad business for a retailer, restaurant or institution to not take special care about responsibly sourcing their food.
This in turn will create a demand for safely farmed fruits and vegetables and chemical free food in general. The increase in demand will attract entrepreneurs, farmers and other suppliers to take the time and care so that they become safe food suppliers. Capitalist fundamentals and the free market will in the end be the most effective tool to solve the safe food issue.
This will require the voice of the consumers via the press and social media to be heard loud and clear by those involved in the farming, trading, reselling and serving of vegetables, fruits and fish. Once the safe food issue becomes important enough for real changes to be made in procurement policies, then the situation will slowly resolve.
There will be a demand for safe produce and entrepreneurs will meet that demand. Over time the nature of farming will shift towards adopting good agricultural practices because it will equate to good business, which currently it doesn’t. This shift towards responsible and safe farming will spread nationwide which will benefit everyone in the country, not just those with a voice to speak out.
The government has many departments working in Agriculture including the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) to name a few. These departments have offices and trained personnel nationwide.
A suggestion would be for the government to start forming a database of farmers and farms and start their own certification and training programme and create an online platform for tracking trading from the farm to the market.
This, coupled with active testing of produce at the markets and at the farm level, will be necessary to ensure traders and farmers keep producing and purchasing safe produce or otherwise face fines or their safe farming certification revoked.
There are large sums of funding currently available with donor agencies, NGOs and the government to implement the strategy outlined. The companies that can help build the software platform, assist to create the certification and training programmes, and special consultants are already present in Bangladesh.
The government has the necessary trained personnel and infrastructure on the ground across the country; they will just need to be mandated and trained. The government will need to build more testing centers across the country and expand the ones that currently exist.
A realistic strategy needs to be formulated and implemented well and the government needs to take the lead here because without the required policies and adequate enforcement of those policies in place the safe food problem will not be resolved anytime soon.
There will be a lot of support from international donors, NGOs but I truly feel the solutions should be home grown, proposed by those engaged in the business of farming in Bangladesh on a daily basis. What tends to happen is that theoretical propositions are put forward that will never be implemented as designed or hoped for by individuals sitting behind a desk.
Recommendations are usually based on a few field visits and interviews and usually trying to align with global best practices as closely as possible. Striving to reach global standards is a good goal but we have to get there in steps.
At this stage we must remain focused on first tackling the safe food issue of Bangladesh before deviating to other currently fashionable objectives like improving the supply chain infrastructure and connecting farmers directly to the market.