{"id":41743,"date":"2024-07-28T05:41:41","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T00:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=41743"},"modified":"2025-04-30T23:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T18:24:12","slug":"pros-and-cons-of-natural-farming-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/pros-and-cons-of-natural-farming-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Pros and Cons of Natural Farming in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What is Natural, Organic and Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)?<\/li>\n<li>Government Initiatives to Promote Natural Farming in India<\/li>\n<li>Challenges and Concerns Regarding Natural Farming<\/li>\n<li>Union Budget 2024-25 Announcements wrt Natural Farming<\/li>\n<li>Way Forward Ensuring Gradual Adoption of Natural Farming in India<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In her Budget proposals for 2024-25, the Union Finance Minister announced that in the next two years, one crore farmers across the country will be initiated into natural farming supported by certification and branding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What is Natural, Organic and Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Natural farming and organic farming, both come under <strong>agroecological practices<\/strong> (which guides public policies towards sustainable agriculture and food systems) and are terms used interchangeably in India.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In natural farming<\/strong> the focus is on the <strong>use of bio inputs prepared from farm and local ecosystems <\/strong>instead of purchasing those from outside.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>ZBNF <\/strong>is one of the many methods of natural farming, popularised by agriculturist Subash Palekar.<\/li>\n<li>According to the approach, a mixture of natural inputs like cow urine and dung, jaggery, lime, neem, etc., are used to <strong>improve soil health, nutrients and reduce input costs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It also restores environmental health and mitigates and\/or reduces greenhouse gas emissions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Organic farming<\/strong> is defined more from a perspective of product certification. What binds organic and natural farming is the <strong>thrust on the absence of application of chemical fertilisers\/ pesticides during cultivation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Government Initiatives to Promote Natural Farming in India:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY):<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It was launched in <strong>2015<\/strong>, as an extended component of Soil Health Management (SHM) under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), <strong>National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>PKVY aims at supporting and promoting organic farming, in turn resulting in improvement of soil health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP)\/ZBNF:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It is a sub-scheme of the PKVY<\/strong> and was launched with a total outlay of \u20b94,645.69 crore for six years (2019-20 to 2024-25).<\/li>\n<li><strong>It aims at promoting traditional indigenous practices,<\/strong> which give freedom to farmers from externally purchased inputs.<\/li>\n<li>Under BPKP, financial assistance of Rs 12200\/ha for 3 years is provided for cluster formation, capacity building and continuous hand holding by trained personnel, certification and residue analysis.<\/li>\n<li>Its vision is to cover 12 lakh ha in 600 major blocks of 2000 hectares in different states.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF):<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Union Agriculture Ministry has been <strong>preparing to launch<\/strong> the Mission to motivate farmers to adopt chemical-free farming and draw them towards adopting natural farming willingly on the system\u2019s merit.<\/li>\n<li>The success of the NMNF will require a <strong>behavioural change<\/strong> in farmers to shift from chemical-based inputs to cow-based, locally-produced inputs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Challenges and Concerns Regarding Natural Farming:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Reduction in yields:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>While Andhra Pradesh emerges as a forerunner in adopting ZBNF with encouraging results, there are concerns about the sustainability and yield (productivity) potential of this farming method.<\/li>\n<li>Findings of agro-scientists of the ICAR-IIFSR highlights a <strong>59% decline in wheat yields and a 32% decline in basmati rice yield <\/strong>compared to integrated crop management.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>May adversely impact food supply:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Agriculture and food experts have their reservations surrounding a large-scale transition from chemical farming to natural farming in a country like India.<\/li>\n<li>This is because it is a challenging task to meet the demands of <strong>expanding food needs <\/strong>in a country with a population as huge as India.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lessons from Sri Lanka:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>A couple of years ago, neighbouring Sri Lanka went through economic and political turmoil after it decided to turn completely organic, and banned the import of chemical fertilisers.<\/li>\n<li>The government\u2019s policy shift had severe consequences with farmers struggling to get natural fertilisers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>They faced a reduction in yields<\/strong> of key crops including rice, putting the country\u2019s food security at risk.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A sharp price escalation<\/strong> was witnessed in the country, resulting in huge <strong>protests and unrest.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Union Budget 2024-25 Announcements wrt Natural Farming:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In the next two years, <strong>one crore farmers across the country will be initiated into natural farming<\/strong> supported by certification and branding.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Its implementation<\/strong> will be through scientific institutions and willing gram panchayats. Besides, 10,000 <strong>need-based bio-input resource centres<\/strong> will be established.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The need for the shift<\/strong> &#8211; from targeting the area coverage to number of farmers now &#8211; was felt as 30-40% of about 10 lakh farmers re-shifted to chemical farming after 3 years when they received complete financial incentives under the BPKP.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Way Forward Ensuring Gradual Adoption of Natural Farming in India:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rigorous scientific tests of natural farming<\/strong>: Especially surrounding the crop yields should be held before its nationwide implementation to allay the fear of potential risk to national food security.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Natural farming at a localised level: <\/strong>Because, adopting it at a large scale may not be a successful model.<\/li>\n<li><strong>First, natural farming can be used to grow supplementary foodstuffs: <\/strong>Instead of growing staples like wheat and rice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Bb0vQ4VC7Lw\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bb0vQ4VC7Lw\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What is PM-PRANAM?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness Generation, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PM-PRANAM) initiative has been launched to encourage states to promote balanced use of alternative fertilisers and chemical fertilisers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. What is the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), NMSA aims to evolve and implement strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to the changing climate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindubusinessline.com\/economy\/agri-business\/budget-2024-one-crore-farmers-to-be-initiated-into-natural-farming-next-2-years\/article68436529.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Budget 2024: One crore farmers to be initiated into natural farming next 2 years<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/should-india-focus-on-natural-farming\/article68454546.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>TH<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are concerns about the sustainability and yield (productivity) potential of the natural farming method<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":41744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}