Ji Yunliang worked as a missile researcher at a large state-owned enterprise and later earned a doctorate in chemistry at a prestigious Beijing university. Now, he is running a small organic farm.

In a country hit by a series of food safety scandals, the interest in organic produce is growing fast.

Instead of using his cutting-edge technical expertise, Ji is employing traditional methods and old-fashioned manual labour to battle pests and weeds on his property on the northern outskirts of the Chinese capital.

"When I got a taste of organic farming, I realised I had reached a turning point in my life," Ji said, picking some worms off of a leaf of basil.

"In a way, it totally goes against what I learned as a chemistry student."

Despite fetching prices up to five times higher than regular produce and limited options on offer, the demand for organic foods is surging in China, where consumers are paying closer attention to what they eat.

The market is now worth around five billion yuan ($732 million) and demand is expected to increase 20-30 per cent a year in the next five years, said Huang Dejun, chief analyst with Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants.

"The Chinese economy has been growing by double digits. People are getting affluent and they are demanding a better quality of life," Huang said.

China's food industry is notoriously prone to safety scares, often linked to corruption.

In 2008, at least six babies died and 300,000 others fell ill when the industrial chemical melamine was used to give dairy products the appearance of having a higher protein content - a scandal that shocked the nation.