भारत में शून्य बजट प्राकृतिक खेती के आर्थिक पहलू

Zero Budget Natural Farming, as the name implies, is a method of farming where the cost of growing and harvesting plants is zero. This means that farmers need not purchase fertilizers and pesticides in order to ensure the healthy growth of crops.

ZBNF is a unique chemical-free method that relies on agro-ecology. It was originally promoted by noted agriculturist Subhash Palekar, who developed it in the mid-1990s. ZBNF promotes the application of jeevamrutha — a mixture of fresh cow-dung, urine of aged cows, jaggery, pulse flour, water and soil-on farmland.

Specific Features of ZBNF:-

• Zero budget natural farming requires only 10 per cent water and 10 per cent electricity than what is required under chemical and organic farming. ZBNF may improve the potential of crops to adapt to and be produced for evolving climatic conditions.
• It is, basically, a natural farming technique that uses biological pesticides instead of chemical-based fertilizers. Farmers use earthworms, cow dung, urine, plants, human excreta and such biological fertilizers for crop protection. It reduces farmers’ investment. It also protects the soil from degradation.
• The ZBNF method also promotes soil aeration, minimal watering, inter-cropping, bunds and top soil mulching, and discourages intensive irrigation and deep ploughing. Since farmers are not required to buy any inputs, the cost of production in ZBNF is reportedly zero.

Benefits of Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF):-

• As both a social and environmental programme, it aims to ensure that farming – particularly smallholder farming – is economically viable by enhancing farm biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• It reduces farmers’ costs through eliminating external inputs and using in-situ resources to rejuvenate soils, whilst simultaneously increasing incomes, and restoring ecosystem health through diverse, multi-layered cropping systems.
• Cow dung from local cows has proven to be a miraculous cure to revive the fertility and nutrient value of soil. One gram of cow dung is believed to have anywhere between 300 to 500 crore beneficial micro-organisms. These micro-organisms decompose the dried biomass on the soil and convert it into ready-to-use nutrients for plants.
• Resilient food systems are the need of the day given the variability of the monsoons due to global warming and declining groundwater in large parts of India. The drought-prone regions in India are reportedly seeing promising changes already in farms with the ZBNF.

The four pillars of ZNBF:-

1. Jivamrita/jeevamrutha-

is a fermented microbial culture. It provides nutrients, but most importantly, acts as a catalytic agent that promotes the activity of microorganisms in the soil, as well as increases earthworm activity

During the 48 hour fermentation process, the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria present in the cow dung and urine multiply as they eat up organic ingredients (like pulse flour). A handful of undisturbed soil is also added to the preparation, as inoculate of native species of microbes and organisms.

Jeevamrutha Application- Apply the jeevamrutha to the crops twice a month in the irrigation water or as a 10% foliar spray.

2. Bijamrita/beejamrutha

Bijamrita is a treatment used for seeds, seedlings or any planting material. Bijamrita is effective in protecting young roots from fungus as well as from soil-borne and seed-borne diseases that commonly affect plants after the monsoon period. It is composed of similar ingredients as jeevamrutha - local cow dung, a powerful natural fungicide, and cow urine, a strong anti-bacterial liquid, lime, soil.

3. Acchadana - Mulching.

According to Palekar, there are three types of mulching:

• Soil Mulch: This protects topsoil during cultivation and does not destroy it by tilling.
• Straw Mulch: Straw material usually refers to the dried biomass waste of previous crops, but as Palekar suggests, it can be composed of the dead material of any living being (plants, animals, etc)
• Live Mulch (symbiotic intercrops and mixed crops)

4. Whapasa - moisture:

Palekar challenges the idea that plant roots need a lot of water, thus countering the over reliance on irrigation in green revolution farming. According to him, what roots need is water vapor.

Whapasa is the condition where there are both air molecules and water molecules present in the soil, and he encourages reducing irrigation, irrigating only at noon, in alternate furrows ZBNF farmers report a significant decline in need for irrigation in ZBNF.

The four-wheels of zero budget natural farming require locally available materials:

• Water vapor condensation for better soil moisture.
• Seed treatment with cow dung and urine-based formulations.
• Mulching and soil aeration for favorable soil conditions.
• Ensure soil fertility through cow dung and cow urine-based concoctions.

Government initiatives to support ZBNF:-

• Government of India has been promoting organic farming in the country through the dedicated schemes of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) since 2015-16 and also through Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).In the revised guidelines of PKVY scheme during the year 2018, various organic farming models like Natural Farming, Rishi Farming, Vedic.
• Farming, Cow Farming, Homa Farming, Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) etc. have been included wherein flexibility is given to states to adopt any model of Organic Farming including ZBNF depending on farmer’s choice.
• Under the RKVY scheme, organic farming/ natural farming project components are considered by the respective State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) according to their priority/ choice.

Future Prospective:-

• In her maiden Union Budget speech in July last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hailed ZBNF as an innovative model and said adopting this could help Indian farmers to double their income by 2022, which happens to be the 75th of Independence.
• A new farmer pension scheme called Pradhan Mantri Kisan Pension Yojana worth Rs 900 croreswas announced. To promote and deepen markets, creation of 10,000 new farmer producer organizations (FPOs) was envisaged, and passing reference was made to the role of e-NAM and APMC in that regard. Fishery sector was given a thrust as the speech proposed to create value-chains and infrastructure. Return to zero-budget traditional farming was emphasised.
• The population of India, which is currently 17.71 per cent of the total world population, is predicted to increase by 33 per cent from 1.2 billion in 2010 to 1.6 billion in 2050. Under ‘business-as-usual’ scenario, by 2050, 60 per cent of India’s population, equivalent to over 10 per cent of the people on Earth, will experience severe deficiencies in calories, digestible protein and fat.
• One of the more progressive announcements were the cluster-based scheme SFURTI(Scheme of Fund for Up gradation and Regeneration of Traditional Industries). It is designed to promote bamboo, honey and khadi clusters. Hundred such clusters are envisaged under SFURTI for 2019-20.
• To meet increased demands for food on a shrinking area of agricultural land, efficiency of crop production must increase, but climate change, soil degradation and depopulation present further challenges to increasing the efficiency of Indian agriculture.

CONCLUSIONS:-

Zero budget natural farming started as a grassroots movement, aiming to provide multiple benefits, both to the environment and to farmers. However, there are conflicting opinions about how it should be developed for widespread use.

Reference:-

• com/economy/agri-business/zero-budget-natural-farming study/article30617645.ece#
• The Hindu, May 28. http://bit.ly/1tpq0rT.
• Ministry of Agriculture. (2017). Annual Report 2016-17. New Delhi: Department of Agriculture, cooperation and farmers’ welfare.

Authors:

*Rajendra Jangid¹, Madhu Kumari², Ramniwas³ and Gograj Ola⁴

¹Ph.D Scholar, Department of Agricultural Economics-SKRAU-Bikaner

²M.sc (Ag), Department of Horticulture-SKN COA-Jobner, (Jaipur)

^3,4Ph.D Scholar, Department of Agronomy-SKRAU-Bikaner

* Email :This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.