Dr. Parveen Kumar
The National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF), launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India has come up at a time when our agriculture sector stands at cross roads. The natural resources like soil water and air which make food production possible on this planet are in a state of disarray. These have lost their fertility, purity and vigour. Soils have degraded, water has been polluted and air has been rendered unfit for breathing. Soil degradation refers to the decline of soil quality, making it less suitable for plant and animal life. A host of causes are responsible for this present mess. A combo of human activities like unsustainable agriculture, deforestation and urbanization accompanied by natural factors like wind and water erosion are contributing to this process. This in turn leads to physical, chemical, and biological changes, including erosion, nutrient depletion, salinization, and a loss of organic matter. According to the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn and the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, the quality of 33% of pastureland, 25% of arable land and 23% of forests has deteriorated globally over the last 30 years. About 3.2 billion people are dependent on this land. Back home in the country about 30% of India’s land is degraded, which is roughly 97.85 million hectares according to a 2021 atlas. Over the years, in pursuit of higher yields and out of ignorance the farmers’ in the country have been indiscriminately using chemical fertilizers over and above the recommended doses. This has been going on quietly for the last so many decades. The excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led to widespread soil degradation and contributed significantly to climate change. Our over-reliance on synthetic fertilizers has depleted soil health by reducing microbial diversity, disrupting natural nutrient cycles, causing acidification and at the same time leading to accumulation of toxic levels of salts and heavy metals in the soil Moreover, chemical fertilizers, particularly nitrogen-based ones, release nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than CO2, significantly accelerating global warming. The global warming in turn leads to extreme weather events in the form of floods and droughts ultimately affecting the food security of the populace.
As a remedy to all this, GoI has come up with a pan India mission, the National Mission on Natural Farming. As a centrally sponsored one, the mission aims to promote chemical-free farming by integrating traditional knowledge and sustainable practices. The mission aims to reduce farming costs, increase farmer income, and improve soil health by encouraging a return to nature-based methods like using cow dung of indigenous type and other local resources as plant protection treatments. NMNF also seeks to establish Bio-input Resource Centres, training farmers as Farmer Master Trainers (FMTs) and community workers like Community Resource Persons (CRPs) and Krishi Sakhis besides providing financial incentives to farmers for adopting these practices. Through this mission government aims to reduce the cost of farming by eliminating external, purchased inputs and promoting self-reliance, popularize integrated farming models, especially those incorporating indigenous cow breeds, to collect, validate, and document traditional natural farming practices, build capacity through awareness and training programs for farmers and other stake holders and to create standards and a certification procedure for natural farming products to access national and international markets. As a standalone scheme of the central government, the mission has a budgetry outlay of rupees 2,481 crores of which rupees 1,584 crores is the central share and 897 crore is the share of states. Over the next two years the scheme targets encouraging 1 crore farmers to adopt natural farming. As much as 7.5 lakh hectares of land will be brought under Natural Farming and this will be done on a cluster basis. Cluster will be a group of villages in a Panchayat or a Panchayat itself and 15,000 clusters have been formed. Each cluster comprises of 125 farmers with at least 50 hectares of land under Natural Farming in one cluster. Under the mission 10,000 Bio input Resource centers are to be established at Panchayat level for easy availability of various Bio-inputs like Beejamrita and Jeevamrita, Agniastra, Brahmastra, Neemastra, Dashparni extract. 70,000 Krishi Sakhis have been trained and two Krishi Sakhis/CRPs will be given the responsibility of promoting Natural Farming in one cluster. To ensure that farmers get a remunerative price of the produce produced through Natural Farming, they are also supported by a simple certification system and common national brand for naturally grown chemical free produce. An incentive of ₹4,000 per acre per year for two years is also provided to encourage adoption.
According to data available on website of Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, MoA & FW, Government of India; 1,039,865 farmers have been enrolled under natural farming; 2, 367 Bio input Resource Centers’ have been established; 1,374 master trainers have been trained; 38, 014 community resource persons are involved and 18 centers for Natural Farming are working to promote this sustainable practice all across the country till date.
KVK-Ramban’s endaveour: KVK-Ramban set up in the year 2022 under the jurisdiction of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu was also one of the KVKs in the country given the responsibility of promoting Natural Farming through the project ‘Out-scaling Natural Farming through KVKs’ from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). For the last three years KVK-Ramban has been proactively working to ensure that this farming technique reaches out to the grassroots level, making it a movement by actively involving local representatives, allied departments, progressive and innovative farmers, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and making use of various social media tools and print media. KVK-Ramban has been organizing various awareness and sensitization programmes for farmers’ farm women and youth of the district; conducting practical demonstrations on preparation of various bio-inputs used under Natural farming to promote soil health (Jeevamrita), seed health (Beejamrita), protection from diseases and microbes (Agniastra, Brahmastra, Neemastra, Dashparni extract). Video on how to prepare bio inputs also are being disseminated among the farming community. Farmers have been trained to act as master trainers. Farmer to Farmer extension is being promoted. Farmers trained by KVK-Ramban are encouraged to teach and motivate their fellow farmers to take up natural farming as a sustainable farming technique. Even high class and college students are also sensitized on the adverse effects of chemical led farming and the need to adopt natural farming. In district Ramban also under NMNF, clusters at Panchayat level have been formed and KVK-Ramban has given demonstrations involving various microbial preparations. In the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan (Kharif) conducted in May-June this year, KVK-Ramban under the leadership of Prof. B. N. Tripathi Hon’ble Vice chancellor and Prof. Amrish Vaid Director Extension had covered every village of the district and sensitized farmers on the need to adopt Natural Farming. Practical demonstrations were given by KVK-Ramban. Again under Holistic Agricultural Development Programme (HADP) & Jammu Kashmir Competitiveness Improvement of Agriculture and Allied Sectors project (JKCIP), this sustainable practice is being promoted through awareness and hands on trainings. Many farmers have already left the chemical intensive agriculture and started producing with Natural Farming. They have reported improvement in yields, soil health and its structure and better returns from this produce. Their soils now have good water holding capacity and retain moisture enabling them to sow seeds even during water scarce conditions. As a result of the continuous sustained efforts of KVK-Ramban, this has become a community led initiative and the movement has now reached every nook and corner of the district.
*The author writes on agriculture and social issues; can be reached at [email protected]
