Zero-Budget Natural Farming To Be Included in Agricultural University Curriculum

Citing Modi government's push for organic, zero-budget natural farming, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech on Tuesday that the country's agriculture universities will be encouraged to include these areas in their curricula.

The Union government has begun to promote the concept of zero-budget natural farming as an initiative that will work to make farming more sustainable as well as improve farmers' income by lowering input costs, in addition to other areas such as better market access and improved product returns to farmers.

In his speech to the National Summit on Agro and Food Processing on December 16, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized natural farming as a "promising tool" for improving farmer conditions.

Following that, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), the apex body for coordinating, guiding, and managing agricultural research and education, issued a circular to all central and state universities encouraging them to promote natural farming.

"States will be encouraged to revise the syllabus of agricultural universities to meet the needs of natural, zero-budget, and organic farming, modern-day agriculture, value addition, and management," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

According to Dr. Harihar Kausadikar, director (education), Maharashtra Council of Agriculture Education and Research (MCAER), agriculture university curricula in Maharashtra are revised every ten years. The most recent revision occurred in 2009-10, and the process of revising the syllabus is currently underway. The new curriculum could be implemented as early as the upcoming academic year, which begins in July–August 2022.

"According to ICAR directives issued in December 2021, the curriculum for postgraduate programmes in agricultural universities must include organic farming, zero-budget farming, and natural farming." Universities are also encouraged to launch their own courses on the subject (for instance, MSc organic farming). "The new syllabus will be implemented in all four agricultural universities in Maharashtra beginning with the upcoming academic year," said Dr. Kausadikar.

Dr. Kausadikar claims that the ICAR has formed 19 BSMA (broad subject matter area) committees comprised of eminent agricultural scientists, academics, and subject matter specialists to revise the syllabus.

Zero-budget farming focuses on shifting agriculture practices away from monocrops and toward a diversified multi-cropping system. Organic fertilizers such as Beejamrit, Jivamrit, and Ghanjivamrit are made from cow dung and urine.

Other traditional practices, such as mulching the soil with biomass or keeping the soil covered with green cover all year, even when water availability is low, experts say, ensure sustained productivity even in the first year of adoption.

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