What is Natural Farming?
Natural farming is also known as the sustainable way of farming. It can also be referred to as zero-budget farming.
Natural farming is the way by which a farmer grows his crop by natural means, not utilizing any pesticides or chemicals for proper plant growth. It uses locally available resources that were also used in ancient times for thousands of years.
Natural farming is nothing different from the traditionally used indigenous practices. It includes mulching, green manuring, cow dung, and urine formulations such as bijamrit, ghanjivamrit, jivamrit, etc. All these help in providing the required nutrients to the soil. Thus improving soil fertility. The multi-cropping method is also widely used for it.
Natural farming helps in maintaining an eco-friendly environment and also provides a better quality of output from the field.
In it, the farmer uses various methods that are ecologically sustainable and economically viable. It reduces the need for farmers to buy anything externally.
What is the Mission of Natural Farming?
The mission of natural farming is to lay the foundation of economic success. It helps in many ways as no insecticides and power-giving chemicals are required to be produced in any factory. Natural processes are used by farmers. Thus eliminating the cost of production.
Which ministry has the National Mission on natural farming?
The National Mission on Natural Farming comes under the ministry of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare.
What is the National Policy for Natural Farming?
In recent times, the Indian government has made many efforts for the upliftment of agriculture. One of the main reasons behind this is that one major part of India's population still solely depends on agriculture. Agriculture is considered to be the only source of income. So the government has decided to come up with a national policy of natural farming.
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National Mission on Natural Farming in India
On natural farming, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has said, "Time has come to relearn the ancient knowledge of agriculture and mold it into a scientific frame. I urge every state to come forward and make natural farming a mass movement."
It can also be known as self-reliant India's self-reliant agriculture.
States Practicing Natural Farming
As it is a national mission for natural farming, as the name suggests, it is a policy by the central government. There are around 17 states that are benefiting from this policy. These states are named as
- Andhra Pradesh
- Bihar
- Haryana
- Himachal Pradesh
- Gujarat
- Kerala
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Jharkhand
- Karnataka
- Odisha
- Madhya Pradesh
- Maharashtra
- Punjab
- Rajasthan
- Uttar Pradesh
- Tamil Nadu
- Telangana
Currently, around 952313 hectares of land is under this scheme. More than 20 lakh farmers are benefitting from this scheme and making their country a prosperous and self-reliant country.
National Mission on Natural Farming Budget
The National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) will cover around 7.5 lakh ha area by developing 15,000 clusters in the next 4 years with a total budget outlay of Rs. 1584 crore (GoI Share).
Natural Farming vs Organic Farming
Both natural farming and organic farming are methods of farming where there is no use of chemicals. In it, crops are grown depending on on-farm biomass management, crop rotation, multiple cropping, etc.
The main difference between natural and organic farming is that in natural farming only the farm field residues of earlier crops are used for mulching; cow dung and urine formulations are also used in it. No product is purchased from outside of it.
In organic farming, if the soil fertility is low in quality, some organic minerals and nutrients are purchased from outside the field for the proper growth of the crop.
The Indian government is widely investing in promoting both these methods of free chemical production. Natural farming is being promoted under the name of the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) while organic farming is being promoted under the name of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY).
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