National Mission on Natural Farming
About
- The Government of India launched the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) in 2024 to promote Natural Farming (NF) across the country.
- It is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare.
Natural Farming:
- Natural Farming is a chemical free farming, involving livestock (preferably local breed of cow) integrated natural farming methods and diversified crop systems rooted in the Indian traditional knowledge.
- It is aimed towards improving soil health and restoring ecosystems and reducing input cost to the farmer to achieve greater climate resilience.
- NF recognises the interdependence of the natural ecosystem amongst soil, water, microbiome, plants, animals, climate and human requirements.
Objectives of NMNF
- The mission aims to transition farmers towards natural farming methods that are chemical-free and rooted in traditional knowledge systems.
- These practices promote agro-ecological principles tailored to local conditions.
- The Mission has a target of initiating natural farming in 7.5 Lakh hectare (ha) area across 15,000 clusters, setting up 10,000 need-based Bio-Input Resource Centres (BRC) for easy availability of NF bio-inputs and generating awareness among 1 crore farmers on natural farming.
- Under NMNF, around 2000 Natural Farming Model Demonstration Farms shall be established and willing farmers will be trained on the natural farming practices, preparation of inputs, etc.
- Further, farmers will be supported by a simple certification system and common national brand for naturally grown chemical free produce.