The Central Government of India has embarked on a grand program known as the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF), which will seek to popularize such farming techniques as natural farming without chemicals all over the country. This scheme is intended to change the current farming practices that involve the use of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals for pest and diseases control and adopt natural farming system which is in harmony with the Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices on soils, crops, pest, disease and insects control practices within the given agro-ecological regions.
What is Natural Farming?
According to the Agriculture Ministry, natural farming is a chemical-free farming system that works with inputs derived from livestock and plant product sources. This method involves incorporating on-station livestock, crop diversification and production, and interactions with soil organisms and natural processes to support production of healthy soil, biological diversities and mitigation of climate probabilities. The Goal is to provide the nation with safe and nutritious foods that are grown by using less expensive inputs and less reliance on purchased inputs.
Objectives of the NMNF
The NMNF has several key objectives:
- Promote Natural Farming Practices: The mission is to educate farmers and people about natural farming methods throughout the country with special emphasis to regions that use excessive fertilizers.
- Support Farmers: The scheme intends to help the farmers through offering them knowledge, equipment, and facilities meant to help the farmers implement natural farming.
- Reduce Input Costs: Eradication of the use of these chemicals in farming makes the practise reduce the input costs of farmers.
- Enhance Soil Health: Natural farming practices restore the reality, fertility, and quality of earth more than climate stimuli, for instance, waterlogging, flood, and droughts.
- Promote Biodiversity: Valuable and copious production from different cropping systems fosters the increase of germination and development of a healthy agriculture.
Implementation of the NMNF
Aiming to create an additional 7.5 lakh hectares of land under natural farming, the purpose is to make one crore farmers happy. Ten thousand Bio-input Resource Centres will be established as part of the program to provide simple access to natural agricultural catchy inputs. Further, about 2000 NF Model Demonstration Farms will be established at KVKs, AUs, and farmers’ field to educate farmers regarding natural farming.
Coverage of Natural Farming in India
The NMNF has been successful in implementing the natural farming process and spread it all over India. At present 22,00,00 hectare is under natural farming practice. This area contains 4 lakh hectares under Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP) and 88 thousand hectares under Namami Gange. Further, around 17,00,000 hectares are also under various state government sponsored schemes for natural farming.
In upcoming years the emphasis on Natural farming is to be increased with the increase in natural farming coverage with 7,50,000 hectares. This is the government’s call to enable it implement its agenda of kick-starting one crore farmers into natural farming within the next couple of years. The mission will be replicated in 15,000 clusters in gram Panchayats but, mainly where natural farming methods are being adopted.
State-wise Adoption
A few states are already way ahead in the practice of natural farming practices. Natural farming methods were adopted in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, these states are urging farmers to use them. The use and application of natural farming systems are slowly being embraced, with many farmers appreciating the systems adopted that avoid use of chemicals among others.
Impact on Farmers
The NMNF has so far covered 34 lakh farmers’ education and related inputs to help them switch to natural farming from chemical farming. This shift not only contingent with lowered input cost but also leads to improved quality which implies that the produce is safer and nutritious to the consumers. They are also developing 10,000 Bio-input Resource Centres (BRC) to familiarize the farmers with the resources needed in natural farming.
Future Prospects
The prospect of developing natural farming in India seems rather favourable and largely depends on the further functioning of the NMNF as a leading organization of the country aimed at making environmentally friendly practices of agriculture top-priority. The idea intends to develop a strong, science-based concept supporting natural farming essential to ecologically grown agriculture commodities. By embracing natural farming, India is in a position to significantly cut on the use of chemicals as well as input improve on the status of its soil and increase on biodiversity.
Benefits of the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF)
National Mission on Natural Farming also abbreviated as NMNF is a major programme implemented by the Indian government to spread the practice of natural farming and its adoption in the country free from chemical inputs. These are means through which the NMNF, as the promotional tool of the primary agriculture, will attempt to foster natural farming practices for the purpose of providing a more sustainable agricultural program that does not have as much significant impact on the physical environment as the previous one, called conventional agriculture. In this section we explore the many advantages of this revolutionary process and the possible implications for farmers, customers and natural world.
Environmental Benefits
- Reduction in Chemical Use: Natural farming reduces the application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, because these chemicals negatively affect soil, water and biologic diversity. Because it uses organic materials like compost, manure and biological insecticide, this type of farming helps in preventing chemical pollution of rivers.
- Improvement in Soil Health: It will be recalled that natural farming improves the fertility and structure of the soil due to improved organic matter content and improved soil microbial activity. This in turn results in improved soil heath and plant strength that can easily stand out future standard challenges of drought and flooding.
- Promotion of Biodiversity: Natural farming promotes various multiple cropping practices such as crop intercalation, intercropping and also the use of trees for other crops. They assist in the conservation of species and the improvement of numerous organisms’ living conditions and definite stability.
- Climate Resilience: Its practice provides an avenue for increasing the health of the soil hence increasing the ability of the agricultural system to implement change. Soil in good health has the ability to hold carbon and thus plays an important role in checking global warming. Moreover, other crop production practices can easily be adapted to the changing climate conditions.
Economic Benefits
- Reduction in Input Costs: Another advantage of natural farming is the low expenses of input that farmers will be required to bear throughout the farming process. Instead of costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides the farmers utilize natural resources as compost and manure and therefore decrease production costs and increase profit.
- Increased Market Demand: Everyday, consumers are becoming more conscious on the effects in their health and the environment caused by chemical farming hence the demand for organic or naturally grown produce. Producers who choose natural farming can sell to these specialized markets at higher prices by doing so.
- Enhanced Livelihoods: The NMNF will target to reach over one crore farmers especially in the less privileged economically part of the country. The initiative enhances the training, resource, and infrastructure to enhance the livelihoods of SMFs, which aimed at increasing rural development and poverty reduction.
- Employment Opportunities: By encouraging its use and adoption in farming, new employment can be created besides boosting the interruption of natural resources in rural areas. Some of the income creating opportunities includes composting, vermin-culture, and creation of bio-input center-point institutions for farmers and rural communities.
Health Benefits
- Safer and Nutritious Food: Natural farming provides food that has minimal or no toxic chemical content hence safe for consumers as they are nutritious. Using natural inputs and practicing the technique of traditional farming maintain the quality nutrient in the crops which extends human health.
- Reduction in Health Risks: Reducing the contact with synthetic chemicals, natural farming is safer to health because it shrinks the health risk involved in the use of pesticides and fertilizers. With this the farmer and the agricultural worker benefit and so the end users or consumers of food products by avoiding chemically contaminated foods.
Social Benefits
- Empowerment of Farmers: The NMNF educate farmers in order to enable them implement sustainable farming practices in their farms. All these continue fuelling the knowledge transfer that empowers farmers to independently work out the relevant farming practices.
- Community Involvement: The techniques used in natural farming include communal methods in ownership of inputs like composting grounds and communal pest control systems. This creates a social group of farmers who work together increasing the bond in the society hence enhancing togetherness.
- Preservation of Traditional Knowledge: The NMNF promote mechanization methods that embrace traditional agriculture practices as supported by indigenous community knowledge. This not only helps in keep the cultural values, but also supports favourable strategies for farming in that ecological zone.
Difficulties and Prospects of the NMNF
The NMNF or National Mission on Natural Farming is an ambitious and innovative programme that seeks to familiarise farmers across the nation with eco agriculture or agriculture using no chemical inputs. Although it can be considered as one of the great schemes which can help the country artistically redesign its agricultural field, it has got a number of concerns which need to be solved in order to bring the opportunities given by the scheme at practice. Moreover, the future development of the NMNF is equally coloured by challenges and the further implementation of the principles of sustainable farming.
Challenges of the NMNF
- Awareness and Adoption: A major problem is the low level of knowledge of farmers and their unwillingness to swap to natural farming techniques. Almost all farmers have embraced the traditional ways of farming that demand the use of chemical products. The shifting of the out-dated conventional methods of farming and the promotion of natural farming practices need social mobilisation, awareness, and capacity building.
- Access to Natural Inputs: There is therefore need to have regular and sustainable sources for some of the natural farming inputs including the organic compost, bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides. One inconvenience is the creation of production and distribution structures of these inputs, especially in desolate or farm country settings.
- Economic Viability: Natural farming also lowers input costs, but changing from conventional farming to natural farming takes time, which tends financially burdensome for farmers. In this time, farmers may less and have unpredictable conditions in the agricultural market as many customers search for organic crops. Financial support measures and incentives during transition phase should be given and implemented to avoid reception of more damages.
- Market Access and Demand: Another challenge which must be acknowledged is the establishment of stable markets of naturally grown crops. Farmers also require market to be able to get outlets where they sale their products in the market. Also, enhancing consumer knowledge and its demand for naturals or organically grown crops is significant for the commercial understanding of the natural farming.
- Policy and Regulatory Support: the successful implementation of the NMNF depends on policy and regulatory support. This involves generation of positive policies on natural farming, providing supports such as incentives, and setting standard on quality of natural produce. One of the biggest challenges is how to achieve policy implementation because there are numerous interactions between different government departments and agencies that should work together on policy implementation.
- Climate Resilience: Ecological agriculture can build climate adaptation as it is not invulnerable to climate change. Sustainable and resilient natural farmer management systems in face of climate variability are a major concern. This entails continuous examination and advancement to better ways of farming as well as creating enduring crop strains.
Future Prospects of the NMNF
- Sustainable Agricultural Practices: The NMNF has the capacity of mainstreaming sustainable agriculture in India throughout the country. On this basis, the initiative can also promote the protection of the environment through the adoption of chemical-free farming techniques that may help in checking soil degradation, and, consequently, loss of bio-diversity. The choice of practices of natural farming can in fact assist in shaping an improved outcome of agriculture by utilizing natural resources.
- Enhanced Farmer Livelihoods: In this case, the NMNF has the potential of enhancing the finances of farmers through changing the input costs of production and the demand of natural produce in the market. To meet those objectives, training interventions, resource, and infrastructure support will assist farmers in adopting natural farming practices to improve their livelihoods standards effectively.
- Improved Public Health: This creates awareness with consumers that is natural food safe from chemical hazards hence healthier food for consumers. In conclusion, as consumers continue to seek natural foods, the NMNF can play a crucial intervention point in enhancing the quality of the society’s health and rate of healthy diets consumption.
- Research and Innovation: From the elaborated activities of the NMNF, the centre is capable of initiating the advancement and research in the agricultural production field. More efforts will be devoted to researching better natural production practices, other seeds, and better ways to produce the natural inputs. This will take effectiveness and viability of natural farming to another level.
- Empowerment of Marginalized Communities: To achieve its goal the NMNF works within different areas of farmers, including those with lower level of monetary income. Through giving support and services to the vulnerable groups it can help equality and also add value to the countryside. By supporting these communities, sustainable farming practice means that the growth of these farming communities will be inclusive.