Zero Budget Natural Farming

• Himachal Pradesh Government has launched Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) project to promote organic farming. It was launched by Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur.
• The project aims to increase agriculture produce and the income of farmers by the year 2022.

About Zero Budget Natural Farming:

• ZBNF was initially launched in September 2015 under the Centre’s Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. Initially, 50 villages across 13 districts of the state were selected for the pilot project.
• It has been so successful that the government wants to scale it up, according to T Vijay Kumar, who is in charge of the project. Last year during the Kharif season, work started in 704 villages to bring farmers under this practice. There is a plan to cover an estimated 6 million farmers by 2025-26.
• The main aim of ZBNF is elimination of chemical pesticides and promotion of good agronomic practices. Many farmers, who were initially reluctant to take up ZBNF, have been practising it for two seasons now. There are some who switched over last year and has witnessed good results

By: Vishal