My experience with Natural Farming

I am working in Organic Farming and certification industry from last 8 years. along with that i am also practicing natural farming on my own farm. During my 8 years of job, i saw steep growth in ZBNF- zero budget natural farming in comparison to Organic Farming. ZBNF is in limelight as it is promoted by several experts, mainly Subhash Palekar ji and Agriculture scientists.

Zero Budget Natural Farming/Natural Farming

Suddenly the practice gone viral after some videos of Subhash Palekar ji gone viral on YouTube and other social media platforms. Farmers of all part of the country started following Subhash Palekar ji and even government is following the same as they have included the ZBNF in state board curriculum where students will be learning practices of natural farming.
It is one of the revolutionary steps because a country of farmers whose 70% population is dependents on agriculture, is leaving farming. As per the government data, everyday 2000 farmers are leaving agriculture and shifting either to labor job or joining informal industry, which could never be sustainable in a longer run. Now i would like to draw attention of some benefits of Natural Farming that could help to create a clear point of view.

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Benefits of Natural farming:

1. First, it a low cost methodology where we found synergy with nature and use waste as gold. (best part is you can easily get waste if you plan wisely like vegetable mandis produce lots of green waste, trees shed leaves and road side or farmland grass could be the best source for your organic manure)

2. It’s not limited by any standards – if you are practicing any particular standard like National program for organic production (NPOP), National organic program (NOP), Fairtrade standards or BCI standards, it could be any standards; all require certain set of practices to be followed and chances of disqualifying will always be there, on top of that cost of certification scare farmers the most. In Natural farming, it is very simple and flexible: one can use inputs available and prepared on their farmland and one can experiment in various ways to see the impact. It actually makes our farmers real entrepreneurs who are risking their crops by experimenting the various methodologies in the natural farming. In this process we also get lots of new, cost efficient and easy to make pest repellents and manures.

3. In is one of the most environment friendly farming technique where we focus on farm biodiversity; it includes working on increasing microbial activity in soil, multiplication of beneficial insects, installing bird perches or planting trees on the borders. (layer tree plantation is best to save crop from storms, heavy rain and dry heat). In Natural Farming, we promote all the activities in accordance with the nature and farm ecology, we ask for indigenous seeds plantation which are resistant from pests and could bear water stress. So overall this is the technique our government and environmentalists should focus upon rather than promoting high cost agriculture like hydroponics, aquaponics, polyhouse farming or any high cost certification best farming.

4. Government is providing platform for ZBNF through its PGS scheme – government is providing online platform to sell their produce along with subsidies and support to farming community. It is one of the best actions taken by government which provides backward and forward linkages for the farmers
Natural farming is a non-restrictive, flexible and environmentally sustainable approach to farming where we give time to land to nourish and gradually it helps to increase soil fertility which further leads to higher production.

To conclude i could say that, its a demand and supply game. If people will ask for pesticides free & natural food, then market will demand from farmers to grow food free from pesticides and naturally. Market will pay the premium to farmers to grow the food and it will be win-win situation for all.

People should purchase directly from farmers through weekly markets, organic markets or even door to door delivery. The only communication gap is how farmers and consumer will meet?

There comes the role of government who can provide a centralized platform like E-NAM where farmers name, contact and his crops could be listed and consumer could place order directly and farmers should get notified about the order and post delivery farmers will be paid directly by the consumer. (There could be a better supply chain model to execute the idea, my focus is about the initiative, which needs to taken without delay).

If you like the content, please share this with your friends and family, and i would love to hear your views on this. I have also written on organic farming and farm technology, do checkout and share your feedback as it will motivate me to write more.

If you want to connect with me, you can write directly to me at sudhansu.singh13@apu.edu.in or  at https://www.facebook.com/bethevoice.in/