{"id":124037,"date":"2022-09-09T17:45:40","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T12:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/?p=124037"},"modified":"2022-09-09T01:28:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T19:58:32","slug":"zero-budget-natural-farming-meaning-benefits-and-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/india\/zero-budget-natural-farming-meaning-benefits-and-challenges","title":{"rendered":"Zero Budget Natural Farming: Meaning, Benefits and Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It is a type of natural farming on a small budget and is a chemical-free agricultural approach based on ancient Indian traditions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Subhash Palekar, an agriculturist, pioneered it in the early 1990s as a substitute for the Green Revolution&#8217;s practises, which rely on chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and heavy irrigation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It is a one-of-a-kind approach based on agroecology.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It aspires to reduce production costs to near zero and return farms to pre-green revolution levels.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It says costly inputs such as fertilisers, herbicides, and heavy irrigation are unnecessary.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">ZBNF is built on four pillars:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Jeevamrutha<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Generally, it is a farming fertiliser made from fresh cow dung, pulse flour, old cow urine (from India&#8217;s indigenous cow breed), water, molasses, and soil.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bijamrita<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The mixture comprises green chillies, neem leaves, pulp, and tobacco, which can be used for pest and parasite management.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Acchadana (Mulching)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0It preserves topsoil during farming and prevents tilling from destroying it.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Whapasa<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It is the state in which the soil contains both air molecules and water molecules. As a result, water requirements are reduced.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Advantages of ZBNF:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The growing expense of external inputs (fertilisers and pesticides) is the primary cause of agricultural poverty and suicide.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0According to NSSO data, about 70% of farm households invest in input more than they make, and much more than 50% of all farmers are in debt.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Because it is necessary to spend money or take out loans for external inputs in ZBNF, the cost of production might be lowered, and farming could become a &#8220;zero budget&#8221; exercise.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This would stop the debt spiral for several small farmers and contribute to the goal of doubling farmer income by 2022.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">ZBNF is an ecologically friendly farming system that is undoubtedly a relevant attempt at a time when chemical-intensive agricultural practices are causing soil and environmental deterioration.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With the ZBNF approach, limited watering, intercropping, soil aeration, bunds, and topsoil mulching are encouraged, while heavy irrigation and deep plowing are discouraged.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It is suitable for all varieties of crops across all agro-climatic areas of the nation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Considering the benefits of ZBNF, Andhra Pradesh announced in June 2018 its goal to become the first state in India to adopt 100% organic farming by 2024.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Concerns Regarding ZBNF:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Sikkim is India&#8217;s first organic state; however, agricultural yields have declined dramatically after switching to organic agriculture.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Many farmers have resorted to traditional farming after noticing their ZBNF revenues drop after a few years.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While ZBNF has undoubtedly helped to protect soil fertility, its impact on increasing production and farmer income has yet to be shown.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The ZBNF aims to promote the requirements for an Indian breed cow in short supply.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The country&#8217;s aggregate population of indigenous and nondescript livestock has declined by 8.1%, as reported by the Livestock Census.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Final Thoughts<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Several fundamental marketing challenges must be addressed before ZBNF can achieve its lofty goal. As an example:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Infrastructure for agricultural markets is being strengthened.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Extending the purchase system to all states for all foodgrain and non-foodgrain crops.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Implementation of a price-deficit payment scheme for some crops.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Determining minimum support prices (MSP) by agricultural costs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Getting rid of the minimum export price for agricultural goods.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"ql-indent-1\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">MGNREGS must also be linked with agricultural work to lower the cost of cultivation, which has been steadily increasing in recent years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)? It is a type of natural farming on a small budget and is a chemical-free agricultural approach based on ancient Indian traditions. Subhash Palekar, an agriculturist, pioneered it in the early 1990s as a substitute for the Green Revolution&#8217;s practises, which rely on chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and heavy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21834,"featured_media":124574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12287,12380,12202,12352,12266,12206,11315,12275],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-124037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agriculture","8":"category-applications","9":"category-blog","10":"category-environment","11":"category-facts","12":"category-incredible-india","13":"category-india","14":"category-knowledge"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21834"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124037"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124544,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124037\/revisions\/124544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}