zero budget natural farming

 

Zero budget natural farming which would not just conserve soil fertility and water but also reduce cost of farming leading to increase farmers income is currently being practiced in 11 States.

Instead of chemical fertilizers the ZBNF farmers use 'JEEVAMRUTHA'- a mixture of cow dung, cow urine, jaggery, pulse flour and water-  so that the fermented microbial culture can add nutrients to the soil.

It is now time for India to make a paradigm shift for making its agriculture more environmentally sustainable while at the same time ensuring a sustained increase in farmer's income.

With significantly lower cost of inputs due to zero chemical inputs and consistently better prices for their higher quality products. Farmer's net incomes increase even in the initial phase of adopting natural farming this has been the experience of nearly 30 lakh famous who have already adopted the practice across 11 states in India.

Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh are currently the leading states in the promotion of natural farming which aims to make farming viable and aspirational by increasing net income of farmers through cost reduction, reduced risk, intercropping and increasing crop intensity.

Farmers practicing natural farming experienced a huge reduction in fertilizer consumption per acre compared to conventional cultivation of rice, maize and groundnut. Yields of 5 crops (paddy, groundnut, black gram, maize and chillies) increased by 8 - 32% under natural farming in Andhra Pradesh.

Switching to natural farming had also saved 1400 to 3500 kilo litre of water and achieved 1.4 to 6.6 metric ton CO2 emission reduction per acre in irrigated crop conditions.