In the coming week, Mumbai’s World Trade Centre will be the hub of India’s most varied offerings of organic products, ranging from food, wellness, personal care, home improvement, kitchen composters and solar products. Organized annually since 2015 by the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development, the ‘Women of India Organic Festival 2018’, to be held in Mumbai from March 16 – 20, 2018, celebrates and promotes women entrepreneurs and farmers in the organic field from across India. Participants from the remotest parts of the country will have the opportunity to travel and stay in Mumbai entirely free of cost for the entire duration of the exhibition, while selling their unique merchandise to the people of Mumbai and surrounding areas.
“Organic foods have been proven to contain far more vitamins, minerals and nutrients than similar foods produced with chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preservatives. Economically too, organic farming is preferable since it ultimately reduces cost of cultivation by 20-40% and increases the incomes of farmers by improving quality of production as well as the quality of soil. Above all, children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticide exposure. Now with the affordability factor coming into organic produce, we should all make a concerted effort to promote this sustainable alternative, thereby boosting the financial well-being of farmers as well as the health and longevity of consumers especially children.”
– Union Minister for Women & Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, explaining the importance of making the shift to organic
Having seen the success of last year’s Women of India (WOI) Organic Festival in Delhi, the Ministry has decided to shift the location for this year’s edition to the commercial capital of India. The Women of India Festival of Organic Products is intended to highlight the health and environmental advantages of organic goods, provide a platform for women engaged in it and boost the development of sustainable and easily accessible sales outlets for women producers from the remotest corners of India. Organic farming relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, vermiculture and natural methods of pest control. Further, ongoing research indicates that wild plants, wild species, and birds are much more abundant around organic farms than around conventional ones. Organic plants and food crops have also been found to contain higher amounts of salicylic acid which fights bowel cancer and the hardening of arteries that leads to heart conditions, strokes and other ailments.
The Women of India Organic Festival 2018 from March 16 – 20, 2018, will have producers and manufacturers of organic products, coming from Delhi NCR, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Kashmir, Telangana, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and Maharashtra. Last year’s edition had thousands of people thronging to Dilli Haat each day. Over 500 woman entrepreneurs from Leh to Kanyakumari and from Kohima to Kutch, came together with their organic products such as cereals, rice, pulses, spices, cosmetics, pickles, organic ice cream, oils, honey, tea, hair care, bath care, beauty care, aromatherapy products, solar products, kitchen composters, organic cotton fabric, linen, organic seeds, snacks and other bio products.
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