Call me paranoid, but I just can't eat a fresh salad in Pakistan unless I know the vegetables have come straight out of someone's garden. It started a few years back when my father (who used to fly) told me how from the plane he could see these fields of vegetables (like lettuce) being grown alongside the River Ravi in Lahore.

The River Ravi, in case you don't know, is considered a biologically dead river given the amount of toxins it contains. These include pathogens from raw, untreated sewage and hard chemicals from industrial effluents. The River Ravi is an extreme case, but the truth is that we continue to dump our waste water into our canals, streams and storm drains with no regard to the consequences. Irrigation water in Pakistan just does not meet the quality standards, which leads to the contamination of vegetables cultivated in certain regions, increasing the risk to human health.

To make matters worse, there are all the pesticides we use in our agriculture — about 5.6 million tonnes of fertiliser and 70 thousand tonnes of pesticides are consumed in the country every year. This is increasing annually at a rate of about 6 per cent. According to a recently published WWF-Pakistan report, “There has been a four fold increase in the use of pesticides in the country since 1990”. And I don't need to tell you about the increasing cancer rate in this country — we have in fact, one of the highest breast cancer rates in the world. So now tell me... isn't my paranoia justified?

Most veggies have high water content so they tend to soak up all the chemicals in the irrigation water. Given such high levels of contamination in the food we eat in this country what can one eat which is considered safe? Well, anything that is grown in the Northern Areas is safe (spring water, no pesticides, no industries). Also the crops and veggies grown in the rain fed and spate irrigated areas of Balochistan, NWFP, Sindh and the Punjab are safe as well since they use silt water from flash floods to irrigate their fields. This water, which is run off from the hilly areas, is rich in nutrients and hence the soil doesn't need fertiliser.

Although I had been hearing off and on about some individuals growing organic fruits, crops and vegetables on their farms on a small scale in Pakistan, now, to my delight, I have discovered that there is actually a growing organic food movement in this country. DAWN readers are probably familiar with Samya Mumtaz who founded Dali foods and grows organic wheat, pulses, etc. on her farm in Lahore. Then there is the Organic Meat and Deli store which has opened up shop off Lahore's MM Alam Road and supplies all kinds of meat (beef, chicken) from animals that are not treated with hormones and given organic feed. Then there is Roshni bread, which is organic bread made by handicapped people employed by an NGO run by the Hannessens. These products are found in most large stores in Lahore.

My favourite food item these days however are the organic green salads sold under the label of 'Imhotep'. These are grown on a farm completely free from pesticides. Christine Dawood runs this farm in Lahore, where she is now settled after marrying a Pakistani. Christine is German — Bavarian to be exact and she grew up in the mountains, where her parents grew all sorts of herbs in their garden. After marrying and moving to Lahore, Christine, who is fond of cooking, began growing a few herbs in her kitchen garden. Soon friends began asking her for basil, tarragon, oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, peppermint and thyme. Her parents-in-laws owned a large plot of land that was lying empty in Cantonment so she turned it into herbal garden. When she got a large order from the PC Hotel, she decided to turn it into a proper business and has now expanded her output (by adding another farm located on Raiwind Road).

Now Christine supplies her herbs and vegetables like rocket, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, cabbage, and butterhead lettuce to big stores like Al Fatah and Pioneer and most of the top restaurants in the city. An environmentalist at heart, she has even introduced drip agriculture in her garden to conserve the water.

Christine's example can be followed by just about any small farmer in this country. You can even grow these organic vegetables in your kitchen garden or small earthenware pots if you live in a flat. Given the amount of toxins floating around in this country, believe me, it is well worth the effort to safeguard your family's health!