Tomar says Centre promoting natural farming, lauds Niti Aayog's efforts to lead implementation

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday said the Centre is promoting the practice of natural farming and has allocated budget for this purpose. Tomar lauded NITI Aayog's efforts to spearhead the implementation of natural farming across the country, an official statement said. He mentioned that the Union Agriculture Ministry has allocated a budget to promote the practice.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday said the Centre is promoting the practice of natural farming and has allocated budget for this purpose. The minister was speaking at a conference organised by NITI Aayog. The two-day (September 29-30) national-level consultation with stakeholders is aimed at leveraging many socioeconomic and environmental benefits of natural farming. Tomar lauded NITI Aayog's efforts to spearhead the implementation of natural farming across the country, an official statement said.

He mentioned that the Union Agriculture Ministry has allocated a budget to promote the practice. "Proposals on natural farming by Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Chhattisgarh have also been considered and approvals accorded for their implementation," the statement said. Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat said 12 lakh hectares will be brought under natural farming in the state in the next five years.

The governor highlighted various benefits of natural farming such as low input cost. NITI Aayog vice chairman Raijv Kumar mentioned that currently the acceptance and adoption of the practice is still in a transitionary stage. However, India looks forward to the implementation of natural farming as a 'jan andolan' (people's revolution). NITI Aayog Member (Agriculture) Ramesh Chand mentioned that the issues related to the creation of a new policy environment, product identity, value chain and marketing would be taken care of as a future course of action.

Emphasising the importance of agriculture in economic development, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said there was a need to build a common understanding and workable strategies to push natural farming to maintain continuity in the food supply system..