Refer - Business Standard
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
· Natural farming is an alternative to chemical fertiliser-based and high input cost agriculture.
· It embodies principles of agroecology, activating microbial life in soil via bio-inoculums (prepared using cow dung, cow urine, jaggery, etc.), thereby improving both soil and plant health.
· A central proposition of natural farming is that chemical fertiliser use and related input costs could be significantly reduced.
· Based on a survey of 600 farmers across all agro-climatic zones in Andhra Pradesh, the study found significantly lower fertiliser consumption (more than 95 per cent reduction in most cases) for naturally farming rice and maize.
· Farmers also reported 90-93 per cent lower expenditure on fertiliser and pesticide inputs compared to conventional farming, or savings of Rs 5,000-7,000 per acre.
· India is the world’s second largest producer of urea (and the largest importer in 2016). Fertiliser subsidies are budgeted to be Rs 80,000 crore in 2019-20. Andhra Pradesh, alone, received more than Rs 3,500 crore in 2018-19 as fertiliser subsidy.
· Another link is between natural farming and climate adaptation and mitigation. Chemicals and fertilisers account for 12 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from India’s manufacturing sector.
· A systemic shift in agriculture would mean vastly upgrading resource productivity, increasing economic viability of alternative practices, and greater social inclusion of the small and marginal farmer.
Shantanu tiwari 5 years
Plz review
IAS Parliament 5 years
Details about present farming technique is not needed. Keep Writing.
