Budget for National Mission on Natural Farming

Context

Recently the Finance Ministry has allocated Rs 365.64 crore for the National Mission on Natural Farming for 2024-25.

About

• This farming technique was delivered by Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese farmer and truth seeker, in his 1975 e book The One-Straw Revolution.
• Natural Farming is a sustainable agricultural practice that emphasizes chemical-unfastened farming, relying on indigenous cows and domestically available assets. 
• It avoids chemical fertilizers and pesticides, promoting traditional techniques that free farmers from the need for outside inputs. This technique makes a speciality of:
  • Biomass Mulching: Covering soil with organic matter to preserve moisture, enhance soil health, and suppress weeds.
  • Desi Cow Dung-Urine Formulations: Using formulations made from the dung and urine of indigenous cows to fertilize the soil and manage pests.
  • Natural Nutrient Cycling: Enhancing the natural methods that recycle nutrients in the soil.

National Mission on Natural Farming

• The Government has formulated National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) as a separate and impartial scheme by up-scaling the Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP) from 2023-24.
• To motivate farmers to undertake natural farming and to enhance the reach of natural farming, 1 crore farmers across the country can be initiated into natural farming supported by certification and branding. 
• Implementation can be by scientific institutions and inclined gram panchayats. 10,000 need-based bio-input useful resource facilities could be set up.

Challenges to Natural Farming

• Yields drop: India’s first natural nation, Sikkim, has started out seeing decline in its yields after some years.
• Conviction amongst Policy Makers: As of now, policy makers fear for the food security of the state and are non-committal on any essential changes within the agriculture region. 
• Resistance by the Chemical inputs-based industry: The chemical-based farming has a robust backing in the form of a multi-million-dollar agro-chemical company, which has fought tooth and nail to maintain the application of chemical compounds in agriculture.
• Knowledge and Training: Farmers need specialised knowledge and training to implement natural farming strategies effectively. This consists of knowledge of soil health, crop rotation, companion planting, and natural pest control techniques.
• Economic viability: The monetary viability of natural farming can be unsure. Higher exertions costs, lower yields, and the ability for crop challenges influences profitability.

Way Ahead

• Now is the time when India moves ahead on the path of natural farming and takes complete gain of the worldwide opportunities which are emerging.
• Natural farming will reduce dependency on purchased inputs and will assist to ease smallholder farmers from credit burden.

Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZNBF) 

• It means raising crops without using any fertilizers and insecticides or any other outside materials. The word Zero Budget refers to the 0 cost of production of all crops. 
• The concept was promoted by SubhashPalekar, in the mid-1990s as an alternative to the Green Revolution’s methods.
• ZBNF helps in maintaining soil fertility, to ensure a chemical free agriculture and ensure low cost of production (0 cost) and thereby enhancing the farmers earnings.

Source: PIB