Niti Aayog wants states to promote ZBNF for increasing farmers’ income

10 Jul 2018 Evaluate

In an effort to double farmers’ income by 2022, NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar has made a case for promoting Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) in states. Under ZBNF, neither fertilizer nor pesticide is used and only 10% of water is to be used for irrigation as compared to traditional farming technique. Farmers use only local seeds and produce their own seeds. 

Kumar further highlighted that states can promote ZBNF under the two farm sector schemes- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. Also, he stated that 50 lakh farmers are working on zero budget farming in different states and added that not only it has potential for India but it also has global potential. Besides, NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand, who is an expert in agriculture, has said that such methods could be scaled up nationally only after they have been scientifically proven to be correct and there is proper manual for these.

Recently, in order to raise formers’ income, the government had raised the minimum support price (MSP) at which the government will buy all Kharif crops for the 2018-19 season. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the MSP of 14 Kharif (summer-sown) crops. Seven of these 14 crops had reported hikes of nearly 20% or more as compared to the MSP of these crops in 2017-18. The most popular kharif crop, paddy, has, however, got a hike of nearly 13% (from Rs 1,550 per quintal in 2017-18 to Rs 1,750 per quintal in 2018-19).

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