A survey by CUTS International says that the Covid-19 pandemic saw a surprising rise in the sales of organic goods in Rajasthan with 91 percent of vendors and 89 percent of buyers opting organic products.
During the pandemic, the vendors said they had seen a significant rise in revenue and profits from organic goods.
Around 90% of customers reported that they thought that their general wellbeing and immunity had increased with the consumption of organic goods, according to the CUTS report, a non-profit NGO focused on public interest issues.
2000 customers (200 in each of the 10 target districts) and 200 vendors, including retailers and distributors, were polled online. The survey was performed between October and November 2020 with 10 CUTS collaborators in 10 districts, i.e. Madhopur, Dausa ,Udaipur , Pratapgarh, Chittorgarh, Jaipur, Jhalawar, Kota, Bhilwara, Sawai, and Jodhpur.
George Cherian, CUTS Foreign owner said, 'health was the key reason for turning to organic goods. In the absence of a vaccine, individuals thought that providing chemical and pesticide-free food products was the best way to strengthen immunity against Covid-19.'
Cherian said that after the pandemic, they saw a big rise in people growing their own food in their parks, kitchen gardens, or terraces.
Another explanation for the change was that citizens did not want to move to buy food from vegetable vendors and mandis during the pandemic and lockout, who were seen as super-spreaders of the deadly virus that infected 3,14 lakh people and caused 2744 deaths in the state.
‘Cherian said that only 2.5 percent of farmers are engaged in organic cultivation in Rajasthan. He said CUTS works with farmers to help them transition from traditional to organic farming. 260 farmers have moved to organic farming in the last two years,’ he said.
A CUTS study in Jaipur city found that 97.5 percent of people said they were willing to go for organic products. 60% of customers claim they find it difficult to identify organic grocery stores and there is also a shortfall in the availability of organic food products. The survey found that 46 percent of sellers said that customers use separate online shopping sites and 52 percent said that customers purchase from them directly. The shortage highlights the gap between farmers, middleman and consumers of organic products, which must be rectified.
Deepak Saxena, assistant director at CUTS International said the pandemic seems to have made organic products more enticing to clients, and this growth could continue well after the pandemic.
'It should become a common routine among the end users and in the next few years, we should expect to be a completely organic transformed state and country,' he said.
