Zero Budget Natural Farming

Subhash Palekar, a Maharashtrian farmer and winner of the Padma Shri award, made zero-budget natural farming (ZBNF) popular. ZBNF is the process of growing crops without using chemical fertilisers, pesticides, or any other outside materials. Instead, farmers use low-cost natural concoctions, inoculums, and decoctions made from cow dung, cow urine, jaggery, lilac, green chilies, and many other natural ingredients that are found close to their farms.

Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)

Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a type of farming that doesn’t use chemicals and costs nothing to grow and harvest plants (taking into consideration the costs incurred by the farmers are recovered through inter-cropping).”Zero Budget Natural Farming” became well-known when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman talked about it in her 2019 budget speech as a way to double farmers’ incomes. This article will talk about the most important facts about Zero Budget Natural Farming to help people who want to take the IAS Exam prepare for GS-III.

Subhash Palekar:  The Founder of Zero Budget Natural Farming in India

Subhash Palekar, an Indian farmer from the village of Belora in the district of Amravati in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, came up with the “Zero Budget Natural Farming” model. Midway through the 1990s, Subhash came up with this method as an alternative to the Green Revolution, which used chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and a lot of watering. From 1972 to 1985, when he was using chemical farming, his crops kept getting better and better. But after 1985, it began to go down. He didn’t understand why his production was going down when he was using the Green Revolution method of chemical farming to its fullest. After three years of looking for answers, he decided that agriculture science is based on a false philosophy. Green revolution isn’t right in some way. Then he started looking for ways to farm without using chemicals. From 1986 to 1988, Palekar looked for natural ways to farm, which led him to study the plants in forests. Here is where he learned about the natural system at work in forests that keeps ecosystems healthy. From 1989 to 1995, Subhash tried different things to see how he could use natural methods in farming. After doing a lot of research, he confirmed that different methods worked and combined them into the “Zero Budget Natural Farming” method.

Top 4 Pillars of Zero Budget Natural Farming

We’ve listed below the top four pillars that support zero-budget natural farming. Have a look.

1. Jeevamrutha

The first and most important part of zero budget farming is Jeevamrutha. It is made from India’s native jaggery, water, pulse flour, soil, and cow breed, along with old cow urine and fresh cow dung. This mixture is one kind of natural fertiliser that farmers use on their land.

2. Bijamrita

Bijamrita is the second cornerstone of farming with no money. It is a mix of tobacco, green chilies, and the pulp of neem leaves that is used to get rid of bugs and other pests. It is used to treat seeds, and it helps protect seeds in a natural way.

3. Acchadana (Mulching)

The third part of zero-budget farming is achadana (mulching). It helps keep the soil from drying out. This pillar helps protect the cover of the soil, so tilling doesn’t damage it.

4. Whapasa

Whapasa is a condition in which the soil has both water molecules and air molecules. It helps to cut down on the need for extra watering.

These are the most important and basic parts of farming with no money.

Pros of  Zero Budget Natural Farming

• Zero-budget natural farming makes it cheaper for farmers to start out.
• Farmer’s income goes up on its own.
• Soil ecosystems get better.
• Cow manure makes the soil better. It has a lot of nutrients and is easy to get.
• Bacteria in cow dung break down organic matter in the soil and turn it into soil that plants can grow in.
• It used less water and electricity.
• The soil is more productive when ZBNF is used.
• It makes the crop less likely to get sick.
• In Zero Budget Farming, we use less chemical fertiliser, which makes the crops we grow better.

Cons of Zero Budget Natural Farming

• Some farmers in India used this method.
• There isn’t much scientific research on the type of farming that is being talked about.
• It is a very sustainable way to farm.
• This way of farming is used in almost no places.

The difference between Zero Budget Natural Farming and farming organically:

• In organic farming, compost, vermicompost, cow dung manure, etc. are used as fertilisers and manures. are used and added to farmlands from outside sources. Natural farming doesn’t use either chemical or natural fertilisers. In fact, neither the soil nor the plants get any fertilisers from outside.
• Even in organic farming, you still have to do things like ploughing, tilting, mixing manure, pulling weeds, etc. In natural farming, the soil isn’t turned, there aren’t any fertilisers, and no weeds are pulled. This is how it would be in a natural ecosystem.
• Organic farming is still expensive because it needs large amounts of manure, and it has an effect on the environment around it. Natural agriculture, on the other hand, is a very cheap way to farm that works well with the local biodiversity.
• In organic farming, you still need to plough, tilt, mix manure, pull weeds, and do other basic agricultural tasks.
• Natural agriculture is a way to farm that is very cheap and works well with the wildlife in the area. Due to the need for bulk manures, organic farming is still more expensive, and it leaves an environmental mark on the area.

Conclusion:-

ZBNF helps farmers save money by encouraging them to use natural fertilisers and seeds from their own area. It uses biological pesticides. Farmers can use cow dung, urine, human poop, plants, natural fertilisers, and earthworms to protect their crops. It keeps the soil from getting worse and costs less for the farmer.