ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Ludhiana, organized a Brainstorming Meeting on “Challenges and Solutions in Implementation of Natural Farming in North-Western India” today. The meeting aimed at identifying efficient and practically viable solutions and developing a roadmap, firstly for better implementation of the mandated activities and secondly to find out innovative and efficient cooperative/ digital/ direct marketing models for Natural Farming.
The Chief Guest, Dr. Rajeshwar Chandel, Vice-Chancellor YSPUHF, Solan spoke about the status, scope, challenges, and imperativeness of Natural Farming in Himachal Pradesh and suggested the way forward. He revisited the commitments of the Hon’ble Prime Minister for revolutionizing Indian agriculture through self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds production, diversifying food baskets, realizing One Health, optimizing the supply chain process from farm to fork, etc. He briefed the Natural Farming Produce certification process implemented by Himachal Government for transparency and traceability. He urged the participants to ensure slow but steady efforts in popularizing Natural Farming.
The Guest of Honor, Dr. Hari Om, State Training Advisor Natural Farming, Haryana explained the dynamics of water, soil, and climate while terming Natural Farming as the ‘Farming of Microbes’. He also stressed the importance of minimum/ zero tillage or conservation agriculture to ensure better Natural Farming. He urged the participating scientists and farmers to dig deeper into the understanding of biotic and abiotic developments in the farms practicing Natural Farming.
Earlier, Dr. Parvender Sheoran, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Ludhiana, briefed about the activities and progress of the Natural Farming project implemented by the KVKs of the Zone. He emphasized the need for a clear strategy and vision that is necessary for popularizing Natural Farming. He emphasised working in tandem with all the stakeholders for better implementation and generating empirical data. Dr. Sheoran highlighted the need to develop mechanisms to ensure the proper market for the produce of Natural Farming.
Dr. Rajesh K Rana, Nodal Officer, Natural Farming project at ICAR ATARI Ludhiana spoke about the significance of short marketing chains and direct marketing options for selling natural produce by small farmers.
Dr. Keshava, the Coordinator of the Natural Farming Project at ICAR, New Delhi, duly highlighted the need of the stepwise conversion of farmers into natural farming.
About 80 participants including experts from the Division of Agricultural Extension, ICAR; PAU, Ludhiana; YSPUHF, Solan; Heads and Scientists of KVKs of Zone-I; outstanding natural farmers, NGOs, industry partners, FPOs/ FPCs and Scientists from the organizing institute participated in this meeting.
During discussions, a wide range of problems faced by Natural Farmers in the processes of production and marketing of natural produce were discussed at length. Very effective solutions for the problem of rodents in natural farming, based on indigenous technical knowledge, were identified for testing and validation. Due to shortage of mulch material in different parts of the region, alternatives were identified for further scientific studies. A range of marketing options and models were selected for trial testing with the help of KVKs and NGOs.
(Source: ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Ludhiana)
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