NITI Aayog organized a National Level Workshop on “Innovative Agriculture” in Vigyan Bhawan on Monday, where a bilingual compendium of success stories of natural farming, comprising 110 success stories from 13 states across India, was released.
A technical session was dedicated to the role being played by cooperatives and FPOs in promotion and scaling up of marketing networks and provision of credit support for natural farming.
More than 1250 participants from Central Ministries, State Governments, industry, farmers, academic and research institutions, KVK’s, and NGOs, delegates from national and international organizations in agriculture and allied sectors, international delegates from France, Australia and Germany joined the workshop physically and virtually.
During one of the technical sessions, Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, joined the workshop virtually, and highlighted the importance and traditional aspects of cow based natural farming which helps sequester carbon and improve soil health.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh mentioned about the state’s plan to promote natural farming on both the sides of the banks of the river Narmada, and 5,200 villages.
CEO Amitabh Kant, during his address, said “Natural farming is the need of the hour and it is important to identify scientific ways so farmers can be assured direct benefits from natural farming and higher incomes.”
Addressing the workshop, Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog said “We can give a chance to such alternatives because there is no serious threat to food security since we are food surplus.” He also called for step wise adoption of natural farming.
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parushottam Rupala highlighted the role of
Addressing the workshop, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar mentioned that the Government has been encouraging agricultural practices that work in harmony with nature, reduce the cost of production, and ensure good-quality produce and profits to farmers. He also emphasized the importance of science and technology in natural farming.
Acharya Devvrat, Governor of Gujarat, shared his experience regarding how shifting to natural farming has led to significant reduction in cost of cultivation, improvement in soil health, and enhancement in yield.
Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog mentioned that the time is ripe to encourage natural farming and share the benefits with the people at large, especially our farmers. The shared experiences of States will help build a robust roadmap to adopt innovative agricultural practices in the country.