Will ‘zero budget’ help double farmers’ income?

The plight of the farmers is poor where they have to bear the burden of growing the crops amid loans & debts, but with little to no profit or income.

Will the ‘zero budget’ help to double farmers’ income?

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Monday said that zero budget natural farming (ZNBF) is one of the most potent methods to double the farmers’ income by 2022.

“A paradigm shift is needed in Indian agriculture because if you want to double farmers’ income. You have to not only look after the prices, but it is much more important to reduce the cost of agriculture. Zero budget natural farming is one of the most potent methods of achieving it,” said Kumar.

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Highlighting how almost five lakh farmers from different states are already working on zero budget natural farming, the Vice Chairman said, “not only does this have the potential for India, but also has a global appeal and global potential.”

Talking about how states have been co-operating for the execution of the same, Kumar said that pilots of ZBNF will be initiated here and will then be validated by scientists.

Under ZBNF, neither fertilizer nor pesticide is used, rather only 10% of water is used for irrigation, as compared to the traditional farming technique.