A growing market for organic food

[S.Annadana]

By Anna Nguyen | 2008-8-20 | NEWSPAPER EDITION
AROUND the world, the push has been gaining momentum for decades and now Shanghai is getting its taste of organic food. And in spite of higher prices, people are becoming hooked, writes Anna Nguyen.

The fragrant smell of basil fills the greenhouse on a sultry summer day as farmhand Wang Yongqin works to clear the weeds from the herbs. Outside, plastic bottles rigged to catch pests with pollen inside do their job.

In another greenhouse, asparagus and red peppers grow side by side because the pests attracted to each vegetable are known to attack each other. This is a small glimpse of the inner workings at BIOFarm, a small organic operation covering 40.5 hectares in the Chuansha Modern Agriculture Exhibition Area near the Pudong International Airport.

Free of chemicals, the cultivation process - from the sowing of the seeds to harvest - requires more labor and patience than normal farming.

"Organic takes more time to grow because we have to follow nature's rules. Chemicals can do a lot of things but they can be toxic," says Jane Tsao, director of public relations and events at BIOFarm.

Organic leaf vegetables can take up to 25 days to grow compared with 10 to 14 days for normally grown vegetables. Tomatoes sometimes require three to four months instead of two months.

It is this extra time, lower yields and higher labor costs that cause organic food prices to be higher, creating a barrier to reaching more customers.

But the organic market is growing in Shanghai with many farms bringing in fresh produce every day to local supermarkets and homes.

A 2006 Greenpeace survey commissioned in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong found middle- to high-income families were the main target for organic food because they were prepared to pay three to four times more for organic products.

The study also showed that Shanghai consumers are the most concerned about food quality.