Soil fertility getting eroded due to chemical farming, need to promote 'natural farming': Agriculture Minister Tomar

New Delhi, December 5

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While inaugurating the National Conference on Soil Health Management for Sustainable Farming, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, on Monday, said soil fertility is getting eroded due to chemical farming and other reasons.

On the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and World Soil Day, NITI Aayog in collaboration with GIZ affiliated to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, Tomar said, “Lack of organic carbon in the soil is a serious concern for us. To meet this serious challenge and for better soil health, we have to promote natural farming, which is beneficial for the environment.”

He said that to promote natural farming, the government has re-adopted the Indian Natural Farming System for Agriculture. “Union Government has approved the National Mission on Natural Farming as a separate scheme with an expenditure of Rs. 1,584 crores,” Tomar said.

Notably, the Natural Farming System is an ancient technique used by farmers for farming and at that time people also knew how to live in harmony with nature, he added. States like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. have made many innovations to promote natural farming.

Tomar said the project of natural farming is going on along the banks of the Ganges under the Namami Gange programme while the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and all Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Central and State Agricultural Universities and Colleges are making all-round efforts to promote natural farming.

During the last year, an additional area of 4.78 lakh hectares has been brought under natural farming in 17 states. Tomar also said that the Government of India is also working through Soil Health Cards. In two phases, more than 22 crore Soil Health Cards have been distributed to farmers across the country.