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Zero budget farming finds zero takers

Zero Budget Farming means no input cost except the seed of the crop. It was said in the Union Budget that zero budget farming will cut spending on fertilisers and boost farmers’ income.

Zero budget farming finds zero takers Farmers say ‘zero budget farming’ would require huge support from the government financially in the initial years because the yield would go down drastically when farmers will not use any fertilisers to enhance the yield and or pesticides on the crop.

The first budget of the Narendra Modi government in its second term had announced ‘zero budget farming’ to help boost farmers’ income, but a year on it has found no takers in Punjab despite the fact that the state government had asked officials from the Agriculture Department to register at least 150 farmers in each district in the plan following a letter from the Centre.

Zero Budget Farming means no input cost except the seed of the crop. It was said in the Union Budget that zero budget farming will cut spending on fertilisers and boost farmers’ income.

Both officials of the state’s Agriculture Department and farmers, however, say that this type of farming would require huge support from the government financially in the initial years because the yield would go down drastically when the farmers will not use any fertilisers to enhance the yield and or pesticides to control the pest attack on the crop in this type of farming.

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“We were told to enroll 150 farmers in our district under zero budget farming, but we could not do so because farmers are not ready for this and they view it as a joke,” said a Chief Agriculture officer (CAO), requesting anonymity. He added that farmers argued that zero budget farming means leaving their fields in the care of god.

CAO, Jalandhar, Dr Nazar Singh said that in Punjab farmers are using more than the required fertilisers despite the agriculture department’s repeated instructions about cutting down the usage of the fertilisers to judicious level and in such a situation to convince them for ‘zero budget farming’ is a tough job which is possible if they get financial aid from the Centre.

Festive offer

“We have been motivating a large number of farmers to adopt it, but still the enrollment has not taken place in this regard,” said Dr Amrik Singh, Agriculture Development Officer, Pathankot, adding that some farmers are doing organic farming but in that too they use organic manure, but in case of this farming nothing is needed except seeds.

“If I go for this farming, then for a few years the burden of loss of yield should be borne by the government as a farmers cannot bear such losses,” said a farmer Satwinder Singh of Batala, adding that he would be more than happy to grow chemical-free grains if the government supports him for a few years.

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He also stressed that government should provide a better market for such products too so that farmers can earn reasonably good from such natural products because when the yield would come down to 1/3rd in the initial years, the farmers need to sell this at a higher price.

Director, Punjab Agriculture Department, Dr Sutantra Airy, said that they have been motivating farmers to go for low budget farming, and to also try zero-budget farming.

Dr Madhu Gill, a senior consultant with the Organic Farming Council Of Punjab, informed that this scheme was yet to take off in Punjab because there was a training programme to be organised for the officials first by the central government to take the scheme to the grassroots level.

Farmer leader Jagmohan Singh, who is the general Secretary BKU (Dakaunda), said: “Without budgetary provisions to support farmers, zero budget farming is a distant dream in Punjab, which is filling the stomach of the entire country by contributing highest amount of the grains for the central pool.”

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“And where is the market for this product?” asked BKU (Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, adding that it can only be done for certain crops over small pockets of land.

First uploaded on: 28-01-2020 at 14:07 IST
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