Athletes, officials and all others dignitaries taking part in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi will be served 'Safe Food' - fruits and vegetables that are free of pesticides or insecticides. The vegetables and fruits are expected to be of supreme quality, rich in nutrients and taste good.
The Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) on Pusa Road is spearheading the initiative to produce organic food grown using a specialized technique.
"We are adopting 'Safe Food' technique to grow vegetables and fruits to ensure they are senior scientist at the institute.
Almost 8000 participant and one lakh people are expected to visit Delhi during the Commonwealth Games in October. The institute has the quantity in mind while planning the cultivation.
"According to our estimates, the daily consumption of vegetables will be 600 to 1,000 quintals and the daily consumption of fruits will be around 500 quintals," he added.
He said as foreigners preferred salads, there was a focus on cultivating some special varieties of salad vegetables, such as carrot, radish, baby corn, sweet corn, mushroom, beans, leafy vegetables, cucumber, potato, turnip, onion and ginger.
The specially grown fruits will include papaya, banana, guava and grapes.
The fruits and vegetables will be ready for consumption from June and will continue till the end of October. IARI's target is of an average 300 grams of vegetables per person per day.
For this, special field training is being imparted to farmers across the country.
The expert said normally grown vegetables may have arsenic content. Under the new system, the land for cultivation will be chosen carefully. It will be enriched with manure, not fertilisers. Care will be taken to provide the right moisture and temperature.
However, if need for pesticides arises, only organic substances such as neem seeds, neem leaves or neem oil will be used.
Methods such as light trap - in which pesticides are trapped with mercury lights - and pheromone trap, in which female insects are captured so that they do not multiply, will be used.
The Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) on Pusa Road is spearheading the initiative to produce organic food grown using a specialized technique.
"We are adopting 'Safe Food' technique to grow vegetables and fruits to ensure they are senior scientist at the institute.
Almost 8000 participant and one lakh people are expected to visit Delhi during the Commonwealth Games in October. The institute has the quantity in mind while planning the cultivation.
"According to our estimates, the daily consumption of vegetables will be 600 to 1,000 quintals and the daily consumption of fruits will be around 500 quintals," he added.
He said as foreigners preferred salads, there was a focus on cultivating some special varieties of salad vegetables, such as carrot, radish, baby corn, sweet corn, mushroom, beans, leafy vegetables, cucumber, potato, turnip, onion and ginger.
The specially grown fruits will include papaya, banana, guava and grapes.
The fruits and vegetables will be ready for consumption from June and will continue till the end of October. IARI's target is of an average 300 grams of vegetables per person per day.
For this, special field training is being imparted to farmers across the country.
The expert said normally grown vegetables may have arsenic content. Under the new system, the land for cultivation will be chosen carefully. It will be enriched with manure, not fertilisers. Care will be taken to provide the right moisture and temperature.
However, if need for pesticides arises, only organic substances such as neem seeds, neem leaves or neem oil will be used.
Methods such as light trap - in which pesticides are trapped with mercury lights - and pheromone trap, in which female insects are captured so that they do not multiply, will be used.
