About:
The Government of India has launched the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) to promote natural farming in mission mode across the country as a standalone Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare.
The scheme has a total outlay of Rs.2481 crore (Government of India share – Rs.1584 crore; State share – Rs.897 crore) till the 15th Finance Commission (2025-26).
Importance of National Mission on Natural Farming:
- Rooted in the traditional knowledge inherited from their forefathers, farmers will practise Natural Farming (NF) as a chemical free farming which involves local livestock integrated natural farming methods, diversified crop systems, etc.
- NF follows local agro-ecological principles rooted in local knowledge, location specific technologies and is evolved as per the local agro-ecology.
- NMNF aims at promoting NF practices for providing safe & nutritious food for all.
- The Mission is designed to support farmers to reduce input cost of cultivation and dependency to externally purchased inputs.
- Natural farming will build & maintain healthy soil ecosystems, promote biodiversity and encourage diverse cropping systems to enhance resilience as suitable to the local agroecology are the benefits of natural farming.
- NMNF is launched as a shift to scientifically revive and strengthen agriculture practices towards sustainability, climate resilience and healthy food for farmer families and consumers.
Aim:
- In the next two years, NMNF will be implemented in 15,000 clusters in Gram Panchayats, which are willing, & reach 1 crore farmers and initiate Natural Farming (NF) in 7.5 lakh Ha area.
- Preference will be given to areas having prevalence of practising NF farmers, SRLM / PACS / FPOs, etc.
- Further, need-based 10,000 Bio-input Resource Centres (BRCs) will be set-up to provide easy availability and accessibility to ready-to-use NF inputs for farmers.
Why Natural Farming is Important?
Natural Farming practices will help farmers to reduce input cost of cultivation and dependency on externally purchased inputs while rejuvenating soil health, fertility & quality and building resilience to climate risks like waterlogging, flood, drought, etc.
These practices also reduce health risks from exposure to fertilisers, pesticides, etc. and provide healthy & nutritious food for the farmers’ family.
Going Forward:
- Through Natural Farming, a healthy Mother Earth is bequeathed to the future generations.
- Through improvement of soil carbon content & water use efficiency, there is an increase in soil microorganisms and biodiversity in NF.
- Farmers will be provided with an easy simple certification system and dedicated common branding to provide access to market their natural farming produce.
- Real time geo-tagged & referenced monitoring of NMNF implementation shall be done through an online portal.
Source: PIB