The Government of India has launched the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) to promote natural farming in mission mode across the country as a standalone Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare.
NMNF aims at promoting NF practices for providing safe & nutritious food for all. The Mission is designed to support farmers to reduce input cost of cultivation and dependency to externally purchased inputs. Natural farming will build & maintain healthy soil ecosystems, promote biodiversity and encourage diverse cropping systems to enhance resilience as suitable to the local agroecology are the benefits of natural farming. NMNF is launched as a shift to scientifically revive and strengthen agriculture practices towards sustainability, climate resilience and healthy food for farmer families and consumers.
Natural Farming practices will help farmers to reduce input cost of cultivation and dependency on externally purchased inputs while rejuvenating soil health, fertility & quality and building resilience to climate risks like waterlogging, flood, drought, etc. These practices also reduce health risks from exposure to fertilisers, pesticides, etc. and provide healthy & nutritious food for the farmers’ family. Further, through Natural Farming, a healthy Mother Earth is bequeathed to the future generations. Through improvement of soil carbon content & water use efficiency, there is an increase in soil microorganisms and biodiversity in NF.
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.
