What it will take for zero budget farming to get full marks

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech recently pitched for Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) to reduce farmers’ cost of production and double their income. While it strikes the right chords with new-age kisans and proponents of sustainable farming practices, TOI teams that fanned out to villages in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab found that while many farmers are eager to understand and implement the technique, the scheme is yet to get off the ground in most states where it is being piloted. The natural farming technique pioneered by Subhash Palekar, a Maharashtra-based agriculturist and Padma Shri awardee, was earlier referred to as ‘zero budget’ since the practitioners of this farming technique use natural ingredients and do not spend any credit on buying inputs. It has since been renamed Subhash Palekar Natural Farming but is still popular by its previous name. Palekar has developed a natural concoction called 'Jeevaamrut' that uses urine and dung from an indigenous cow breed and paste of green gram to rejuvenate the soil, providing micro-nutrients to crops. The idea being better soil health would lead to more yield. boxcontent medium70331984What is Zero Budget Natural Farming A technique devised by Vidharbha-based agriculturist Subhash Palekar that uses locally available natural ingredientsThe farming method uses 'Jeevaamrut' - a natural concoction made of cow urine and dung from an indigenous breed and a paste of green gram. This helps rejuvenate the soil, providing micro-nutrients to crops and raises yieldIt is popular in Andhra Pradesh and Himachal PradeshZBNF is expected to play an integral role in PM Narendra Modi’s vision to boost farmers’ income by 2022, but absence of a solid policy and lackadaisical approach of local governments has kept the initiative from taking root. In the past few years, Palekar has been asked by governments in states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala and Karnataka to train their farmers in these methods. But TOI found only a handful of farmers in many of these states practising the technique. medium70463084TOI travelled 400km to Nagpur, Wardha and Amravati districts to find that the farming technique was being used by few and far between. It’s the same story in the south. ZBNF is limited to some districts like Palakkad, Thrissur, Wayanad and Ernakulam in Kerala. Though the Kerala government had set aside Rs 15 lakh this year for ZBNF, the funds are lying unutilised. In Punjab, the hotbed of green revolution, only 1,000 out of 1 crore acres of sowing area is being utilised for natural farming. M S Sidhu, professor in economics and sociology at Punjab Agriculture University, explained that agriculture in the state is mostly mechanised and it would be difficult to wean farmers away from it. 70331997But in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, zero budget farming is popular, mainly because governments in both states have taken measures to lay thrust on natural farming. While about 2,669 farmers are practising ZBNF in 252 hectares of land in Himachal, 700 villages in Andhra’s Rayalaseema are using it. In Himachal, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur had earmarked Rs 25 crore for propagation of natural farming last year. This year too, the state government has announced subsidy of 50% for purchasing cows of indigenous breeds to promote natural farming. 70344178Farmers said that a separate market for natural produce could incentivise their move to natural farming. Ganesh Upadhyay, member of the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha in Uttarakhand, said that without a push for natural produce, regular training for farmers and infrastructure in markets, adoption of ZBNF would remain limited. Agriculture director, Uttarakhand, Gauri Shankar also agreed that absence of a solid policy to boost ZBNF had kept the concept from becoming popular.The model also doesn’t suit marginal farmers since they have no land to sow cash crops alongside. Some farmers said that ‘zero budget’ was a misnomer as they still had to spend on irrigation, tools and machines. Tajinder Singh Virk, president of Terai Kisan Mahasabha, said that without government aid, farmers cannot adopt natural farming. “For small farmers, even natural input like cow dung comes at a cost. Many of them do not own cows.” 70360392Zero Budget Farming 70360396Organic FarmingFertilisersFertilisersNo chemical or organic fertilisers usedOrganic matter decomposed using microbes and earthwormsOnly organic fertilisers and compost usedPloughingPloughingNo ploughing, tilling required, grown as in natural ecosystemRequires ploughing, tilling, mixing of manures, and weedingExpenditureExpenditureLess expensive used only local productsBuying vermicompost in bulk can be expensiveAgriculturists said that eliminating farmers’ belief that only chemical fertilisers can yield bumper crop was a major hurdle in getting them to switch to ZBNF. But new-age farmers have been quick to warm up to it. Mahesh Mhaske, a management graduate, took up full-time farming five years ago and has since grown oranges, pomegranates and apples using natural methods. He earns up to Rs 15 lakh annually. Harshala Kalambe, a microbiology graduate, moved from Gurgaon to Narkhed in Nagpur district after videos of Palekar on social media inspired her to take up farming. Similarly, Manjeet Singh in Himachal’s Una district holds a degree in Master of Technology (MTech) and left his job to learn farming from Palekar. Ajay Rattan from Bilaspur worked as an engineer for 10 years before switching to farming. In Shimla, Sandeep Sharma left his job of a lecturer to cultivate apples using Palekar’s methods. All of them have reported lower input costs and increased profits. In Andhra Pradesh — where ZBNF was first introduced in 2015 — farmers have recorded higher yields even in drought-hit areas. medium70363289The government is now mulling to set up ZBNF outlets in some areas so that farmers could sell natural produce, Palekar told TOI. Palekar also said that his method is better than organic farming since it involves nourishing the soil with micronutrients. “Organic farming uses vermicompost which is costly and not sustainable for the Indian farmer. In ZBNF, the main ingredients are dung and urine from local breed of the cow.” 70341700The theory may be put to test soon. A team of scientists at the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology is experimenting with ZBNF for various crops. One of the scientists involved in the research, Sunita Pandey, said that ZBNF methods would be used to grow seven crops including wheat, moong (green gram), chana (chickpeas) and methi (fenugreek). medium70361017(With inputs from Shishir Arya in Nagpur, Syed Akbar in Andhra Pradesh, Sudha Nambudiri in Kerala, Aakash Ahuja and Prashant Jha in Uttarakhand, Anand Bodh in Himachal Pradesh, Neel Kamal in Punjab)Photos: Ranjit DeshmukhUntitled Carousel 70097986Illustration: Arindam Chakraborty