India achieved food security by utilising high-return seed varieties, fertilisers to nurture the soil, and pesticides to prevent crop damage. However, this was accompanied by environmental damage due to the overuse of fertilisers, which had an impact on both human and ecological health.
What is natural farming?
Natural farming emphasises the use of bio-input data ready from homesteads and local ecosystems rather than purchasing them from outside sources. It is also recognised as Expenses Incurred Natural Farming, Prakrithik Krishi, Cow Premised Natural Farming, Shashwat Kheti, Synthetic Free Agriculture, and other names.
See also: Is Polyhouse farming a better greenhouse farming method?
Natural farming: Description
Natural Farming is described as “pesticide-free farming.” It is an agro-ecologically sound farming system that includes crops, trees, and livestock, allowing for the best utilisation of functional biodiversity. It promises to increase farmers’ income while providing numerous other benefits such as soil fertility restoration, air quality, and minimising and/or greenhouse gas emissions. Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese rancher and scholar, popularised this farming method in his 1975 novel The One-Straw Revolution. Natural farming is recognised internationally as a type of restorative agribusiness notable strategic plan to protect the planet.
What are the benefits of natural farming?
The reality would be that Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) lowers farmers’ investment rather than their output. In fact, it allows them to reinvest their entire income in their crops. Ordinarily, fertiliser expenditure consumes a sizable portion of their income. Another significant benefit of Zero Budget Spiritual Farming is that it prevents soil degradation. Chemical use causes the land to become infertile and thus unfit for agriculture over time.
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Natural farming: Principles
Natural farming principles employ crop production to comply with nature’s vibrant and matched production systems, which are the result of interactions between sunlight, moisture, soil, crops, living creatures, and microbes in natural ecosystems. It is critical to notice nature without being overconfident in our knowledge but rather with a humble, clear, and pure mind.
Furthermore, growing good crops necessitates the development of affection for the crops. A farmer can recognise the prerequisites of soil and crops for healthy growth and, as a result, take the required management practices. Agricultural output is a process of seeking properly balanced health for all types of living organisms, including humans, soil, crops, and livestock.
Below are the principles of natural farming:
- Ramming the soil affects the natural climate of the soil and encourages the growth of weeds. Hence, a no-till farming system is employed.
- Weeds are not eliminated by tillage or herbicides, but they can be repressed by expanding straw over newly sown land and increasing ground cover.
- No chemical fertilisers – This is due to adding chemical fertilisers aiding plant development but not soil development, which persists to worsen.
- There is no need for chemical pesticides because nature has a careful balance that precludes any one species from gaining an advantage.
Natural farming: What distinguishes natural farming from other methods?
Modern agriculture is rooted in the belief that the soil must be replenished with chemical fertilisers like nitrogen and phosphorus related to crop consumption. The use of chemicals lessens the microbial population and impedes this natural process. Similarly, in organic farming, the soil is refilled by implementing organic manure such as cow dung. However, because cow dung includes so little nitrogen, huge quantities must be applied, which a farmer may find difficult to arrange. Natural farming is based on the idea that there are no nutrients in the soil, air, or water and that good soil biology can unleash these nutrients.
Natural farming: How are soil nutrients handled in Zero Budget Natural Farming?
Locally, a bio-stimulant based on cow dung is made by alcoholic fermentation dung with cow urine, jaggery, and pulse flour. In comparison to organic farming, the dung requirement is very low, at around 400 kg per acre of land.
When applied to fields, fermentation is expected to register the highest bacterial populations in the soil, supplying essential nutrients to the plants (Jivamrit). This farming system also makes use of a variety of other interventions. Seeds are handled with a stimulant derived from cow dung, which provides protection for young roots from fusarium and other ground and plant diseases (Beejamrit). The fields are managed to have some greenery throughout the year in order to help plants capture carbon from the air and nourish the soil-carbon-sponge.
Natural farming: What are the benefits of switching to sustainable agriculture?
- Small-scale and inconsequential farmers who spend a significant amount of money on synthetic chemicals will profit the most from adopting this farming method.
- Increasing farmer income: Chemical fertilisers can be supplanted with able to produce product stimulants while yields remain comparable. This will reduce cultivation costs by 60-70%. Natural farming also softens the soil and improves the taste of food. As a result, farmers’ net income may increase.
- More adaptable than organic agriculture: Organic farming is more concerned with certification, whereas natural farming is a more gradual process. However, there is some adaptability in natural farming. This makes transitioning easier for small farmers.
- Benefit end users: At the moment, consumers are compelled to purchase food that contains chemical residues. Although certified organic is more costly, the cost savings in organic agriculture can allow food that is safe at reasonable prices.
- Aids in the fight against climate change: Natural farming not just saves farmers money, but it also increases carbon fixation in the soil, which can assist in reducing climate change.
- Forest management and farming practices based on natural farming can refill and regreen the global landscape. Furthermore, it can meet soil fertility prerequisites as well as nutritional integrity.
See also about: erosion
FAQs
What are the top three advantages of organic farming?
Organic farming, when compared to standard agriculture, takes smaller pesticides, minimises soil erosion, lessens nitrate leachate into surface and groundwater, and recycles animal manure back into the farm. These advantages are offset by higher consumer food costs and overall lower yields.
Why is organic farming preferable?
Organic farming practices are more beneficial to the environment since they involve less pollution, soil degradation, and power. Removing pesticide use in farming advantages nearby birds and animals, as well as people who live near farms.
