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(THE GIST OF PIB) National Mission on Natural Farming

(NOVEMBER-2024)

National Mission on Natural Farming

Recently, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister of India approved the launching of the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF).

About National Mission on Natural Farming:

It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare.
It has been launched to promote natural farming in mission mode across the country as a standalone scheme.
It aims at promoting natural farming practices for providing safe & nutritious food for all.
It is designed to support farmers to reduce input cost of cultivation and dependency to externally purchased inputs.

Features

In the next two years, NMNF will be implemented in 15,000 clusters in Gram Panchayats, which are willing, & reach 1 crore farmers and initiate Natural Farming (NF) in 7.5 lakh Ha area.
Preference will be given to areas having prevalence of practising natural farming farmers, SRLM / PACS / FPOs, etc.
Further, need-based 10,000 Bio-input Resource Centres (BRCs) will be set-up to provide easy availability and accessibility to ready-to-use natural farming inputs for farmers.
Under NMNF, around 2000 NF Model Demonstration Farms shall be established at Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Agricultural Universities (AUs) and farmers’ fields, and shall be supported by experienced and trained Farmer Master Trainers.
The willing farmers will be trained in Model Demonstration Farms on the natural farming package of practices, preparation of natural farming inputs, etc. near their villages in KVKs, Agricultural Universities and practising natural farming farmers’ fields.
75 lakh trained willing farmers will prepare inputs like Jeevamrit, Beejamrit, etc. by using their livestock or procure from BRCs. 30,000 Krishi Sakhis/ CRPs will be deployed for awareness generation, mobilisation and handholding of willing farmers in the clusters.
Farmers will be provided with an easy simple certification system and dedicated common branding to provide access to market their natural farming produce. Real time geo-tagged & referenced monitoring of NMNF implementation shall be done through an online portal.
Convergence with existing schemes and support structures of Government of India/ State Governments/ National & International Organisations shall be explored for enhancing local livestock population, development of NF Model Demonstration Farms at Central Cattle Breeding Farms/ Regional Fodder Stations, provide market linkages at district/ block/ GP levels through convergence for local farmers’ markets, APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) Mandis, Haats, Depots, etc.
Additionally, students will be engaged in NMNF through the RAWE program and dedicated Undergraduate, Postgraduate & Diploma courses on NF.
Funding: The scheme has a total outlay of Rs.2481 crore (Government of India share – Rs.1584 crore; State share – Rs.897 crore) till the 15th Finance Commission (2025-26).