CruxNews
Raipur: Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agarwal has announced “zero budget-natural farming”, a new method of farming will be adopted in the state soon. It will be done in an area of five acres in the fields belonging to the agriculture department, seed corporation and agricultural science centers across the state.
Speaking at a two-day workshop on “zero budget-natural farming” organized by the Department of Agriculture and Biotechnology on Tuesday, Brijmohan Agarwal said that the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, medicines etc. has resulted in making farming a less profitable business.
Therefore, this concept is not only for the welfare of farmers, but it will also benefit the society and the country as well. Practicing this technique doesn’t involve any use of chemical fertilizers in the farm nor the farmers are required to buy pesticides and medicines from the market, he said.
Agarwal said that more than 75 percent of the farmers in the state are small farmers who have limited capacity to invest in agricultural as well they have very small land for farming. It is not possible for such farmers to cultivate using expensive resources. In such a situation, zero budget natural farming is a good option.
He instructed the officers of the Agriculture Department to organize a training program of 5,000 farmers before mid-October. Besides, he praised and congratulated Padma Shri Subhash Palekar for inventing this technique.
Commissioner of Agricultural Production Sunil Kujur said in the workshop that zero budget-organic farming is a very good concept in which maximum benefits can be obtained from minimum investment. Research and experiments of this technique were conducted before which showed good results.
He informed that 48 Agriculture Officers of Agriculture Department are being sent to Andhra Pradesh to study this agriculture system there who will later train farmers in the state.
Inventor of the technique Subhash Palekar said that cost of chemical farming is high, and it also degrades the quality of soil and has a bad effect on the health of humans, animals, and the environment. Whereas this organic technique will have a good effect on human health and the environment.
He said that this method of natural agriculture is popular in various states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat states. About 30 lakh farmers are doing zero budget-natural farming.
