Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar on December 5 inaugurated the National Conference on Soil Health Management for Sustainable Farming.
- Shri Tomar said that the lack of organic carbon in the soil is a serious concern for us.
- To meet this serious challenge and for better soil health, natural farming should be promoted, which is beneficial for the environment.
Steps to promote natural farming
- The Government has re-adopted the Indian Natural Farming System for Agriculture.
- Natural Farming System is an ancient technique used by farmers for farming and at that time people also knew how to live in harmony with the nature.
- States like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. have made many innovations to promote natural farming.
- During the last year, an additional area of 4.78 lakh hectares has been brought under natural farming in 17 States.
- To promote natural farming, the Central Government has approved the National Mission on Natural Farming as a separate scheme with an expenditure of Rs. 1,584 crores.
- Under the Namami Gange programme, the project of natural farming is going on along the banks of the Ganges.
- The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and all Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Central and State Agricultural Universities and Colleges are making all-round efforts to promote natural farming.
- In two phases, more than 22 crore Soil Health Cards have been distributed to farmers across the country.
- Infrastructure development is also being done by the Government under the Soil Health Management Scheme, in which there is a provision to set up different types of Soil Testing Laboratories.
