Context

• Launched in 2018, the Himachal Pradesh’s Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Yojana (PK3Y) is promoting the climate resilient Subhash Palekar Natural Farming (SPNF), also called ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming’.

About Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Yojana (PK3Y)

• Women farmers in the hill State of Himachal Pradesh are gradually turning to non-chemical, low cost “natural farming”, which has not only provided them with a sustainable livelihood but also empowered them better.

  

• Over 1.5 lakh farmers have been trained in natural farming in the State so far, with substantial numbers of women participants.
• Moreover, the coming together of women from the hill regions for natural farming, regardless of their level of education, has helped them gain confidence in matters beyond agriculture. Practical training in natural farming is helping rural women in Himachal Pradesh gain confidence by supplementing family incomes.

Back to basics

About Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)

• It is a set of farming methods, and also a grassroots peasant movement, which has spread to various states in India.
• Subhash Palekar perfected it during the 1990s at his farm in Amravati district in Maharashtra’s drought-prone Vidarbha region.
• According to the “zero budget” concept, farmers won’t have to spend any money on fertilisers and other agricultural inputs.
• Over 98% of the nutrients that crops require — carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, solar energy — are already present in nature.
• The remaining 1.5-2% are taken from the soil, after microorganisms convert them from “non-

Four Wheels of ZBNF

• The “four wheels” of ZBNF are ‘Jiwamrita’, ‘Bijamrita’, ‘Mulching’ and ‘Waaphasa’.
  • Jiwamrita is a fermented mixture of cow dung and urine (of desi breeds), jaggery, pulses flour, water and soil from the farm bund.
    • This isn’t a fertiliser, but just a source of some 500 crore micro-organisms that can convert all the necessary “non-available” nutrients into “available” form.
  • Bijamrita is a mix of desi cow dung and urine, water, bund soil and lime that is used as a seed treatment solution prior to sowing.
  • Mulching, or covering the plants with a layer of dried straw or fallen leaves, is meant to conserve soil moisture and keep the temperature around the roots at 25-32 degrees Celsius, which allows the microorganisms to do their job.
  • Waaphasa, or providing water to maintain the required moisture-air balance, also achieves the same objective.

Source: TH

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