Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting Budget 2022-23, announced that the government will promote chemical-free natural farming throughout the country along the river Ganga.
"Chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country with a focus on farmers' land in 5 km wide corridors along the river Ganga, in the first stage," she said.
The Centre will promote Kisan Drones, chemical-free natural farming, public-private partnerships for the delivery of digital and high-tech services to farmers across the country during the financial year 2022-23, Sitharaman added.
As part of the inclusive development, the government will promote the use of 'Kisan Drones' for crop assessment, digitisation of land records, and spraying of insecticides.
The government will also facilitate a fund with blended capital raised under the co-investment model through Nabard to finance agri start-ups and rural enterprises, she said.
"This is to finance start-ups for agriculture and rural enterprise relevant for farm produce value chain," the FM said.
The activities of these start-ups will include inter-area support for farmer-producer organisations (FPOs), machinery for farmers on a rental basis at the farm level and technology including invitee base, she added.
The finance minister further said the government will promote chemical-free natural farming throughout the country with a focus on farmers lands in five-kilometre wide corridors along the longer river Ganga in the first stage.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been emphasing the importance of chemical-free natural farming for some time now.
¡°Natural farming will benefit the country¡¯s 80 per cent farmers, who are small-scale and have less than two hectares of land, as they spend a lot on chemical input. But using natural fertilisers will benefit them with low expenditure and more profit,¡± PM Modi had said in December last year.
Now, after the disastrous impact of chemicals and fertilisers over the long-run has been widely studied, and disregarded by many young farmers and entrepreneurs, many are moving to natural, organic farming.
Organic and chemical-free farming is an agricultural approach that advocates healthy products free from components that may harm humans and nature. They include but are not limited to industrial pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, clones, GMOs, chemical medications, hormones, growth boosters, etc.
Nature farming uses only organic matter to enhance the vitality of the soil and enrich its inherent power. Since nature farming does not rely on commercial fertilizers, it was initially called fertilizer-free cultivation.
Natural farming isn't a new concept. It has been used for centuries before fertilisers and pesticides took the reigns to increase productivity due to acute demands.
It is considered an agroecology-based diversified farming system that integrates crops, trees, and livestock with functional biodiversity.
In India, Natural farming is promoted as Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati Programme (BPKP) under a centrally sponsored scheme- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY). BPKP is aimed at promoting traditional indigenous practices which reduce externally purchased inputs. It is largely based on on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on biomass mulching, use of on-farm cow dung-urine formulations; periodic soil aeration, and exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs.
NITI Aayog along with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers welfare had convened several high-level discussions with global experts on natural farming practices. It is roughly estimated that around 2.5 million farmers in India are already practicing regenerative agriculture. In the next 5 years, it is expected to reach 20 lakh hectares- in any form of organic farming, including natural farming, of which 12 lakh hectares are under BPKP.
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