By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
In the far west of India, co-operative consumption and production is becoming a key issue, too. Unlike co-operatives receiving memberships and providing goods for themselves, many of them are opening their ``fruits'' to the public.
V.B. Ladole, chief functionary of the Community Action for Rural Development Society; Priya Salvi, project coordinator of the Save Bombay Committee; and Diya Sharma of the Navdanya Organic Shop, visited Korea and talked to The Korea Times about the blooming fair trade in India.
Sharma, whose group runs a seed bank to save seeds for the following year and share them with farmers, said organic food is an extravaganza in India. ``We are promoting the good side of organic foods but it is more of a showoff tool for the rich. We are focusing more on the fact that it could lead to sustainable farming because we are using no chemical fertilizers and teach farmers ways to grow food safely,'' she said.
Salvi did not mention the exact term co-operative but stressed the importance of domestic consumption of such goods. ``We thought transporting such foods a long distance will only worsen greenhouse gas emissions. We think people from a similar culture and in the neighborhood buying their products will give producers more responsibility, and a sense of worth to the consumers,'' she said.
Ladole stressed that it is ethically right. ``You pay them what they are worth. We offer them the opportunity of education and plans for the future. We tell them they could get the exact or more return for the amount of effort they put in, in return for providing healthy food,'' he said.
In India, the co-operative or fair trade is still in its initial stages, but recently activists are exchanging ideas with other countries, such as Korea and others, and seeking to expand their action.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
