An exclusive website on natural farming developed by NITI Aayog was launched
A national workshop on Natural Farming by Agriculture vertical, NITI Aayog was recently held where Krishi Vigyan Kendras across India under the Chairmanship by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog participated.
The opening remark of the event was given by Dr Neelam Patel, Senior Adviser (Agriculture), NITI Aayog which was followed by an address by Ramesh Chand, Member (Agriculture). He mentioned the journey of the country from food deficiency to food surplus and the need to focus on doubling farmers’ income. He also emphasised on the scientific validation of natural farming practices.
An exclusive website on natural farming developed by NITI Aayog was launched by Dr Kumar. The website covers information regarding natural farming including coverage of the practice in India, various schemes and initiatives by Central and State Governments, success stories from farmers and relevant publications among others. The website can be accessed at https://naturalfarming.niti.gov.in/.
Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat mentioned the advantage of natural farming over organic farming considering the lesser input requirement and reduced labour cost. Devvrat emphasised that natural farming was based on frontline technologies and scientific principles.
The first technical session of the workshop was chaired by T Vijayakumar, Vice Chairman, Rythu Sadhkar Sanstha, Andhra Pradesh. He shared the experiences of Andhra Pradesh in natural farming. Priya Ranjan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, highlighted the schemes and initiatives of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare for the promotion of natural farming. The potential of natural farming for addressing the global challenges related to the agriculture sector was underlined by Dr Ravi Prabhu, DDG, World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF.
Dr AK Singh, DDG (Agriculture Extension), ICAR, elaborated on the role of KVKs to demonstrate and disseminate natural farming practices. Dr Rajeshwar Chandel, Executive Director, Prakritik Kheti Kushhal Kisan Yojanaa, Government of Himachal Pradesh deliberated on natural farming for fruits and vegetables.
The second technical session of the workshop was chaired by Prof JP Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST, Jammu & Srinagar and included experience sharing by farmers and KVKs from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana and Maharashtra followed by open house discussion.
More than 1000 participants including state government and KVK officials, researchers from ICAR and Agriculture Universities and farmers have attended the workshop virtually from across the country.
