Evolution comes from revolution - its time for "green to get mean".
Imagine standing in the hot sun before a field of roses, hectares of vegetables or fruit trees as far as you can see. Everything is certified organic and no harmful chemicals have been used. More important you get well paid for your fresh produce and you have created well-paid jobs for your local community. You have a well-respected job; you are on the land in the sun and yes, even loving the rain. Your organic lifestyle is about healthy soil = healthy plant = healthy human = healthy planet. You are making a difference and have a lifestyle that is the envy of all the city folk.
Why would you choose an over stressed job behind a computer, in your 2 square meters of space in an uninspired office, that took you over an hour (if you were really lucky) in traffic to get to.
We South African are too polite, a little too respectable and we put up with far too much. As Tom Peters says nice people make horrible managers and bad business and government leaders. Nice people make terrible citizens too. Its time to join me and get a little angry!
Here in South Africa we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. We have over a million hectares of unused viable farmland waiting for cultivation. We have retailers crying out for organic produce. The world market is completely under supplied as the global industry is growing at a spectacular 30% per annum. The organic industry is the fastest growing market segment in the world and passed IT a few years ago.
Yet, our rudderless government cannot see this opportunity.
In Brazil, Argentina and Columbia - three countries also burdened with very high unemployment and were forced to create new jobs for their leadership to stay in power. They all have chosen the organic and bio-fuel route. It makes total sense as the unemployed largely come from the land and make their way to the cities thinking there is a better life. These forward thinking governments seized the opportunity and created those new jobs back on the land. They added incentives to shack dwellers to return to farming. The result: in Brazil alone they have created 2 million new jobs and US $75 billion in new agricultural based exports.
The nice people will say 'this was South America not Africa" our soil, climate and vegetation won't allow us to achieve the same success.
Then think of this - Kenya has created 950,000 new jobs growing flowers and 2 million new jobs growing organic vegetables for the European Union retailers. Uganda now has 35,000 organically certified cotton farmers - here in South Africa we have none. Remarkably, organic cotton gets a 120% up-charge on the Chicago commodities exchange over GM and other non-certified organic cotton.
How do we the consumers fit in? Food safety is going to be the over-riding worldwide issue for the next decade. China recalls are now a weekly occurrence. The EU rejected our own Eastern Cape pineapples this season. They were contaminated with toxic fertilizer from China. So where did all those pineapples go? Are we well-mannered South Africans eating them? The EU has set their own certification and standards and China has had 250,000 sq miles of land certified - maybe they also get job creation and food safety.
Every organically certified product is independently monitored every 30 days, tested and then certified before going to market.
This is not the case with GM or other non-certified produce.
Now is the time to get angry. Its time to get onto the streets and protest that our government is not doing enough on food safety or on creating new jobs. We must demand certified organic in every retailer - eating well means optimal health, an improved environment and job creation. Every one of us can make a contribution.
This is your call to action.
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