Paonta Sahib (Himachal Pradesh): Zero budget farming is a way of doing natural farming without incurring any cost. Overall, it is completely natural farming. Zero budget natural farming rejects the investment of any product from outside of agriculture. In zero budget natural farming, indigenous cow dung and cow urine are used.
In today's era, zero budget farming is like a boon for those farmers who lack capital for farming. This kind of farming also gives more yield in less cost.
Take Kishanpura village of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh. Farmers here have changed the fate of themselves and other people of the village by doing zero budget farming. Jaswinder Kaur, a local woman farmer, said that in 2018 she was told during a camp that zero budget farming is beneficial for the farmers. After gathering all information about natural farming, she thought that she would do this type of farming only.
Initially, for one to one-and-a-half years she had to face a lot of problems, but now with time her income has increased by four to five times. Se said that he has added more than 100 women in her village to this form of farming. There are about 60 women in this group who are working in very active mode.
Also read: Farmers of coastal Karnataka see new ray of hope in local drink
Jaswinder Kaur said that earlier, from her five bighas, she used to have an income of R 20,000 to Rs 25,000 but now this runs into lakhs of rupees. She said that the time she took to buy other fertilisers, she can make Jeevan Amrit compost at home in the same time. She also said that good facilities are being provided to them by the state agriculture department.
The women nearby also said that their income is increasing due to natural farming. Due to natural farming, the yield of crops has also increased by four to five times. They said that natural farming is doubling the income of farmers and is also beneficial to them.
Jaswinder Kaur's husband said that since 2009, he has toured the whole of Himachal Pradesh along with agriculture department officials. Apart from this, by going to other states, he has taken strong training in natural farming and has shared this with the people his village.
He said that he has planted such crops in his area that yield income throughout the year. Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statements about doubling the income of farmers, Jaswinder Kaur's husband said that this is the real formula to achieve this. He said that this type of farming not only doubles the income of farmers but can also increase it by four times.
