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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | India is waking up to the hidden benefits of natural farming -Sayantan Bera

India is waking up to the hidden benefits of natural farming -Sayantan Bera

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published Published on Jan 11, 2022   modified Modified on Jan 11, 2022

-Livemint.com

Early adopters claim higher yields and low cultivation costs. But scientific validation is awaited

Government can keep fertilizer subsidies in check. The fertilizer subsidy bill, driven by a spike in natural gas and other raw material prices, is set to touch a staggering 1.3 trillion in 2021-22

Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. Or so it happened to KV Homendra. At 23, he went for a degree in an agriculture university aiming to find work as government agriculture officer in Andhra Pradesh. But since those positions weren’t open, he instead joined a state owned non-profit, Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, which was set up to promote natural farming. Homendra joined the Samstha as a fellow and was tasked with renting a plot of land and experience firsthand the results of natural farming and demonstrate it to farmers. Those two years changed his life.

“Everything I learnt at the university went for a toss. During the training (in natural farming) I did not believe it could be possible. That one can stop applying all chemical fertilizers and pesticides, replace them with locally prepared stimulants, and still get comparable yields while reducing cost of cultivation by 60-70%," Homendra said.

He rented two and a half acres of land in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and grew a variety of crops—from marigold and tomatoes to cauliflower and paddy. A 1.5-acre plot where he grew horticulture crops gave a handsome return of over 1 lakh. His best tomatoes weighed 250 grams a piece, and the cauliflowers looked like giant white clouds weighing as much as 3 kg a piece. The yields in an acre of paddy came at 35-37 bags of 49 kgs each, or about 4.4 tons per hectare, higher than the district average (4 tons per hectare).

“My experiment with natural farming prompted about 150 local farmers to give it a try," Homendra said over phone. Andhra Pradesh, which launched natural farming as a state policy in 2015, is now home to the largest number of farmers in India who have transitioned from chemical nutrients to applying locally prepared natural inputs. As of March 2021, about 500,000 farmers are practising natural farming in 2,16,000 hectares of land.

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Livemint.com, 11 January, 2022, https://www.livemint.com/industry/agriculture/is-natural-farming-the-future-of-food-11641834465490.html


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