Govt spends INR 49.80 crore on natural farming

Over 409,000 hectares of land covered

NEW DELHI, 22 April 2022: Natural farming is a traditional indigenous livestock based agricultural practices which gives freedom to farmers from all kinds of externally purchased inputs like chemical fertilizer or pesticides as well as organic fertilizers like vemicompost, organic manure, biofertiliser, bio-pesticides hence reduce the cost of farming and thereby provide benefit mostly to small and marginal farmers.

Transition of natural farming requires large scale access to natural farming techniques as farmers shift from traditional fertilizer and pesticide based system to a system where no inorganic chemical is added to the farm.

Government is implementing Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP) introduced during 2020-21 as a sub scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) for the promotion of agro-ecological farming system which have many variants and is based on sound ecological principles and traditional indigenous practices including  Natural Farming.

The scheme is generic in nature and gives freedom to farmers to adopt indigenous practices with emphasis on exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and also promotes on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on biomass mulching, use of cow dung-urine formulations and other plant-based preparations.

Training through capacity building is integral part of the scheme. Under BPKP, financial assistance of INR 12200/ha for 3 years is provided for cluster formation, training capacity building, organising conferences  and continuous handholding by trained personnel, certification and residue analysis.

An area of 4.09 lakh ha area has been covered under natural farming and a total fund of INR 49.80crore  has been released to 8 States namely Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Apart from this an additional area of 5.68 lakh ha has been approved for 3 States namely Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan & Uttar Pradesh.  The State –wise details of funds released, crops covered and area under BPKP is given at Annexure – I.  

       Annexure- I

The State –wise details of funds released and area covered and crops under Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhthi (BPKP)

Sl. No.	States	Released date	Area in Ha	Amount released  (INR in lakh)	Crops under natural farming
1.	Andhra Pradesh	30.09.20	100000	750.00	Maize, Groundnut Cashew, Citrus, Palmoil, Tomato, Cotton, Paddy
2.	Chhattisgarh	09.12.20	85000	1352.52	Rice,Wheat, Pulses
3.	Kerala	30.09.20	84000	1336.60	Paddy, Banana, Leafy Vegetables, Cucurbits, Solanaceous varieties, Bhindi, Cool Season Vegetables, Spices and Condiments., Tubers Coconut based inter crops garden like fruit plans, cocoa, nutmeg, coffee, Cashew, Pepper, Coconut, Arecanut
4.	Himachal Pradesh	24.12.20	12000	286.42	Wheat, Maize, Peas, Apple, Stone fruits, Pulses, paddy, coriander and other leafy vegetables
5	Jharkhand	02.12.20	3400	54.10	Paddy, Wheat, vegetables , pulses, oilseeds
6.	Odisha	02.02.21	24000	381.89	Rice, Turmeric, Ginger and Pulses
7.	Madhya Pradesh	16.02.21	99000	787.64	Wheat, Rice, Pulses, Soyabean,
8.	Tamil Nadu	16.02.21	2000	31.82	Vegetable crops
Total			409400	4980.99

This information was given by the agriculture and farmers welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Lok Sabha recently.

Image credit: indianbureaucracy.com