Deepak Bhise is just not too impressed with the push for “chemical-free natural farming” in Nirmala Sitharaman’s newest finances. This 4-acre vegetable farmer from Yedgaon village in Pune district’s Junnar taluka claims to have burnt his fingers by attempting out such strategies of cultivation 10 years again.
“I was able to harvest hardly 3 tonnes per acre of tomatoes, as against my average of 15-20 tonnes from regular farming. Forget making money, I could not even recover my input costs,” says the 36-year-old. He alleged that the federal government was attempting to divert consideration from rising prices of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which has already made agriculture much less worthwhile. “This (natural farming) will make it totally unviable,” he added.
In her finances speech, Sitharaman mentioned that chemical-free farming will probably be promoted all through the nation, beginning with fields inside a 5-km broad hall alongside the Ganga River. Further, states could be inspired to revise the syllabi of agricultural universities “to meet the needs of natural, zero-budget and organic farming, modern-day agriculture, value addition and management”.
Ganesh Nanote, a cotton and soyabean grower from Nimbhara village in Barshitakli taluka of Maharashtra’s Akola district, concurs with Bhise. “The Green Revolution made India self-sufficient in food grain. The government, on one hand, wants us to also become atmanirbhar (self-reliant) in pulses and oilseeds. But on the other hand, it is propagating methods that will reduce yield. Natural farming means going back on the progress we have made,” he factors out.
Chemical-free farming entails cultivation utilizing farmyard manure, cow and buffalo dung, urine vermin-compost and different such pure components, as an alternative of urea, di-ammonium phosphate and different artificial fertilisers and pesticides. Votaries of this methodology of cultivation insist that it results in enchancment of soil well being and decreased money outgo for farmers.
“All that may be true. But how will we be compensated for lower yields? Natural farming is what our great-grandparents were doing. If the government wants us to do the same, it should come out with a roadmap so that we can divert area from chemical to non-chemical-based agriculture in phases. And during this period of shift, we should be provided financial support since yields are bound to fall,” says Paramjit Singh, a 5-acre farmer from Parvez Nagar village of Punjab’s Kapurthala district.
Charanjit Singh Aulakh, who heads the School of Organic Farming on the Punjab Agricultural University in Punjab, made a distinction between “organic farming” and “natural farming”. In natural farming, farmers additionally use non-chemical fertilisers/manure, bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides which can be sourced from exterior. In pure farming, nothing that’s off-field can be utilized. Everything, together with cow dung and urine formulations/cultures, has to return from throughout the identical farm.
“They (the proponents) say that the requirement of up to 30 acres can be met from a single cow. Organic farming can be more viable, but yields even here are only 35-50% of normal in the first year and 75-80% in the fourth or fifth year. For this period of low yields, farmers have to be given some financial support, especially when creating a market for such niche produce is not going to be easy,” he notes.
Interestingly, Subhash Palekar, the Padma Shri awardee and authentic proponent of zero-budget pure farming (ZBNF), didn’t sound very enthusiastic concerning the newest finances proposal. Palekar, who is predicated out of Amravati in Maharashtra, had shot to fame when Sitharaman’s 2019-20 finances had talked about about ZBNF and the way it may “help in doubling our farmers’ income”.
However, Palekar mentioned that the Narendra Modi authorities was solely “talking about this method of farming, but has not contacted me to understand it fully”.
The time period “zero-budget”, he added, is deceptive. “I have dropped it a long time back in favour of Subhash Palekar Natural Farming. Ye the finance minister continues to call it zero-budget, which is wrong,” he informed The Indian Express.