Himachal  Pradesh Zero Budget Natural Farming :

The Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Acharya Devvrat, launched the Zero Budget Natural Farming project  with the motive that farmers of the state would adopt organic farming.

Zero Budget Natural Farming means for all the crops, the production cost will be zero. In the Zero Budget Natural Farming nothing has to be purchased from the outside, invented by PadmaShree Subhash Palekar.

All things required for the growth of the plant are available around the root zone of the plants. There is no need to add anything from outside. Our soil is prosperous-full of nutrients. This means that farmers need not purchase fertilizers and pesticides in order to ensure the healthy growth of crops. This is essentially a chemical free farming method based on age old Indian Farming practices that were environmentally sustainable and were forgotten due to the advent of Chemical Farming through the ‘Green Revolution’ in India.

Background  :

• The neoliberalization of the economy led to a deep agrarian crisis that made small scale farming an unviable vocation.  
• Privatized seeds, inputs, and markets are inaccessible and expensive for peasants.
•   Indian farmers increasingly find themselves in a vicious cycle of debt, high production costs, high interest rates for credit, and volatile market prices of crops.  
• Under such conditions, ‘zero budget’ farming promises to end a reliance on loans and drastically cut production costs.  
• The phrase 'Zero Budget' means without using any credit, and without spending any money on purchased inputs.

Need for ZBNF :

•  Ensuring food security and producing more with less resources.
•   For building the resilience of smallholder farmers for creating a food-secure future.
•  ZBNF is the right solution to fight climate change and create resilient food systems.
•  Fighting drought is one of the main objectives of ZBNF.
•   The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN advocates environmentally-friendly farming methods that can take us to a more sustainable future.  Importance for chemical free food consumption is growing rapidly.
•   Chemical farming has made food a poison and also has reduced the yield by making lands barren.
•   Farmers’ welfare and sustainable practices are vital for a sustainable and productive economy.
•   ZBNF constitutes an effective strategy for achieving SDGs targets.

ZBNF as the name suggests implies that farming is done with no budget and also through natural ingredients. It relies on four (4) pillars—

Bijamrita — Seeds mixed with cow dung, cow urine etc.
Jivamrita — Water mixed with cow dung, cow urine, jaggery etc.
Mulching and
Waaphasa— Aeration of the soil.

ZBNF was taken up first in Karnataka in India and also the farmers in Andhra Pradesh have achieved good results with it.

Steps taken by Himachal Govt. to ensure ZBNF :

• Making a budgetary provision of Rs. 25 crore in a first instance.
• Six big camps on natural farming have been organized in different parts of the state during this year and farmers had participated in a large number which shows that the farm community was enthusiastic about it.
• A Scheme for for ZBNF known as Prakrtik Kheti Khushhal Kisan launched with immediate effect. Under this scheme, the farmers of the state would be provided training and necessary equipment etc.

Advantages  :

• Besides reduced input cost, farmers practising ZBNF gets higher yields.
•   Elimination of chemical pesticides and promotion of good agronomic practices.
•   Promote regenerative agriculture, improve soil biodiversity and productivity.
•   Ensure decent livelihoods to smallholder farmers.
•   Restore ecosystem health through diverse, multi-layered cropping systems.
•   Anyone who is having half an acre of land can start ZBNF.
•   Using ZBNF techniques, one can convert even the most infertile land into a fertile one.
•   Women’s empowerment and nutrition.

Agricultural scientists have to rework their strategy so that farming is in consonance with nature. We need a global transition to a more resilient and sustainable agriculture that is less dependent on· agrochemicals and draws more on natural biological and ecosystem processes