Status on Zero Budget Farming

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar  has informed that Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP), a sub scheme of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) since 2020-21  is promoted for  traditional indigenous practices including Zero Budget Farming .The scheme mainly emphasises on exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and promotes on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on biomass mulching, use of cow dung-urine formulations and  plant based preparations .Under BPKP, financial assistance of Rs 12200/ha for 3 years is provided for cluster formation, capacity building and continuous handholding by trained personnel, certification and residue analysis.

Until now, under BPKP, an area of 4.09 lakh ha. area has been covered and a total fund of Rs. 4980.99 lakh has been released in 8 States across the country, the details of which is given at  Annexure-l.

Government of Uttar Pradesh has proposed 98670 ha. area in 35 districts for Natural Farming  with budget of Rs. 19722 lakhs. This would benefit 51450 farmers. This also includes the Prayagraj district covering 1000.2 hac. area with  913 farmers.

Government of Rajasthan has been promoting Natural Farming since 2019-20    as  a pilot project  in Tonk. Sirohi and Bansawara district through State Budget. During financial year 2020-21, the scheme was executed in 15 districts (i.e. Ajmer, Bansawara, Baran, Barmer, Bhilwara, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jhalwar, Nagaur, Tonk, Sikar, Sirohi and Udaipur) of the State. Under the scheme since 2019-20, 7213 farmer were trained at gram panchayat level training programme on different components of Zero Budget Natural farming (ZBNF) & 2080 farners were benefited through subsidy on input-unit in Banaswara district of Rajasthan. This scheme is not being implemented in Dungarpur district.

The Government of Himachal Pradesh has launched a scheme named ‘Pratrik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana by adopting ‘Subhash Palekar Natural Farming (SPNF) (also called Zero Budget Natural Farming techniques).  Upto 31 October, 2021 1,46,438 farmers of Himachal   Pradesh are practicing  in Zero Budget Natural Farming under the State Scheme Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research through ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, Modipuram initiated a study on “Evaluation and validation of Natural Farming Practices in different Agro-ecologies” covering all the pillars (Concoctions such as Beejamrit, Jeevamrit, Ghanjeevamrit; Intercropping; Mulching and Whapasa) of natural farming under All India Network Programme on Organic Farming from kharif 2020 at 20 locations covering 16 States.

Multi-location evaluation of 8 cropping systems namely Maize +cowpea  (fodder) –  wheat + chickpea (Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand); Cotton  +green gram – rabi sorghum +chickpea (Tamil Nadu and Karnataka); Soybean + maize – wheat+mustard (Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh); Rice +dhaincha – maize+cowpea (fodder) (Jharkhand and Maharashtra); Turmeric + cowpea—green gram (Kerala and Meghalaya); Cassava +vegetable cowpea – greengram (Kerala); Cowpea+maize (fodder)—Fennel+cabbage (Gujarat, Rajasthan) and Soybean+maize for grain—vegetable pea+ green coriander (Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand)is being undertaken with the participation of 11 SAUs, 8 ICAR institutes and 1 special heritage university. The study is in progress.

Annexure- I

The State –wise details of funds released under BPKP