NEW DELHI: The Agriculture Ministry is ready with a new central scheme to promote Natural Farming in the country with an estimated outlay of Rs 2,500 crore, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

The proposed new scheme on natural farming will soon be placed before the Cabinet for approval, the official added.

The new scheme has been designed months after Prime Minister stressed the need to keep looking at alternatives for existing fertiliser and pesticide-based farming while addressing a national conclave on natural farming in Gujarat in December last year.

Modi had also said natural farming offers much better products with no side effects.

“After several rounds of consultations with stakeholders, a draft scheme on natural farming has been framed in order to promote natural farming with a systematic approach without disturbing the existing systems of farming,” the government official told PTI.

The proposed scheme aims to adopt a complementary and cluster approach, to begin with, and will focus on intensive handholding of farmers practising natural farming, marketing of the produce and providing extension services, among other activities, the official said.

The objective of the scheme is not the conversion of chemical farming but promoting natural farming in areas where chemical farming has not reached yet. For instance, chemical farming is not much practised in dryland areas, the official said.

It may be noted that the government in the Union Budget 2022 has announced the promotion of chemical-free natural farming throughout the country, starting with fields within a 5-km corridor along the Ganga river. read more

source : – Time Of India