The National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) will train 18.75 lakh farmers in practising natural farming who, in turn, will reach out to one crore farmers. At a two-day national workshop on natural farming conducted by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare at Gujarat Natural Farming Science University, Halol, Gujarat on Thursday, it was informed that the mission has a target of initiating natural farming in 7.5 lakh hectare area and establishing 10,000 need-based Bio-Input Resource Centres (BRCs) in 15,000 clusters across all states & UTs.

Inaugurating the workshop, Gujarat Governor Acharya Devarat emphasised that natural farming practices recognise the interdependence of the natural ecosystem and human requirements. He said natural farming improves soil health, restores natural ecosystems, reduces farmers’ dependence on the external market, reduces input cost, provides greater climate resilience, and offers safe and healthy food and environment for future generations.

Advertisement

Presiding over the workshop, Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, said that the NMNF, approved by the central government in 2025, is inspired by farmers and communities from across the country who have been practicing natural farming for decades. With the objective of leading by doing, the NMNF scheme aims to scientifically strengthen agricultural practices through work in farmers’ fields. Thus, the NMNF scheme’s implementation actively involves all farmers, scientists, and institutions with experience in natural farming for capacity building, training, and extension of natural farming across the country, the secretary said.

The national workshop was attended by 90 resource persons from seven Centres of Natural Farming (CoNFs) from Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, etc. The host University, Gujarat Natural Farming Science University, is one of the identified CoNF for the Mission. The workshop was also attended by 10 local farmers practising natural farming from Gujarat and 52 students and professors from the Gujarat Natural Farming Science University.

The two-day national workshop is the first of the upcoming training activities to be undertaken in the NMNF. The resource persons have been encouraged to become ambassadors of this historic mission, thereby paving the way for a paradigm shift in the Indian Agriculture system towards sustainability.