{"id":170730,"date":"2022-02-24T21:20:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T15:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=170730"},"modified":"2022-02-24T21:21:19","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T15:51:19","slug":"a-roadmap-for-indias-natural-farming-ambitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-roadmap-for-indias-natural-farming-ambitions\/","title":{"rendered":"A roadmap for India\u2019s natural farming ambitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News: <\/strong>In her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reaffirmed the Centre\u2019s commitment to natural, chemical-free, organic, and zero-budget farming.<\/p>\n

On the lines to develop chemical-free farming, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana<\/a>, has been given a larger allocation of Rs 10,433 crore.<\/p>\n

In this context, eight suggestions are given by experts to scale up chemical-free farming.<\/p>\n

What are the eight suggestions given by experts to scale up chemical-free farming?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, <\/strong>focus on promoting natural farming in rainfed areas beyond the Gangetic basin. The reasons are,<\/p>\n

One, rainfed regions are home to half of India\u2019s farmers. They use only a third of the fertilizers per hectare compared to the areas where irrigation is prevalent.<\/p>\n

Two, the shift to chemical-free farming will be easier in these regions. Further, it will help the farmers to gain as the current crop yields in these areas are low.<\/p>\n

Three, research also shows that there is higher interest among farmers from these areas, especially from tribal communities, who practice rainfed agriculture.<\/p>\n

Second,<\/strong> enable automatic enrolment of farmers<\/strong> transitioning to chemical-free farming into the government\u2019s crop insurance scheme, PM Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).<\/p>\n

Any transition in agriculture adds to the farmer\u2019s risk. Covering such risks could enhance the appetite of the farmers to embark on the transition.<\/p>\n

Third,<\/strong> promote microenterprises<\/strong> that produce inputs for chemical-free agriculture. Because lack of readily available natural inputs has been a persistent barrier for farmers in transitioning to chemical-free agriculture.<\/p>\n

To address this challenge, combine the promotion of natural farming with the setting up of village-level input preparation and sales shops. Two shops per village across the country could provide a livelihood to at least five million youth and women.<\/p>\n

Fourth, leverage NGOs and champion farmers<\/strong> who have been promoting and practicing sustainable agriculture across the country. Because, learning from peers, especially champion farmers, through on-field demonstrations has proved highly effective in scaling up chemical-free agriculture in Andhra Pradesh.<\/p>\n

Fifth,<\/strong> need to evolve the curriculum in agricultural universities, upskill the agriculture extension workers<\/strong> on sustainable agriculture practices.<\/p>\n

Sixth,<\/strong> leverage community institutions<\/strong> for awareness generation, inspiration, and social support.<\/p>\n

Seventh,<\/strong> support monitoring and impact studies. Such assessments would ensure an informed approach to scaling up sustainable agriculture.<\/p>\n

Finally,<\/strong> dovetail the ambition on millet promotion with the aim to promote sustainable agriculture.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> This post is based on the article \u201cA roadmap for India\u2019s natural farming ambitions\u201d<\/strong> published in Indian Express<\/strong> on 24th<\/sup> Feb<\/strong> 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: In her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reaffirmed the Centre\u2019s commitment to natural, chemical-free, organic, and zero-budget farming. On the lines to develop chemical-free farming, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, has been given a larger allocation of Rs 10,433 crore. In this context, eight suggestions are given by experts to scale up chemical-free farming.… Continue reading A roadmap for India\u2019s natural farming ambitions<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10500],"class_list":["post-170730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704438266},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}