Regular interactions with experienced organic farmers encouraged me to start organic farming in my village Moutorh, Purulia, West Bengal because organic products are often appraised for their benefits to health and the environment.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, on Friday, emphasised the need to promote natural farming practices. He said that the Central government was considering offering subsidies to encourage natural farming methods.
The plight of marginal farmers in India is an urgent issue that demands immediate attention. These farmers, who own or lease less than one hectare of land, represent over 65 per cent of the farming community.
Lakhimani Murmu is an active member of Maniyardi Kadamjharna SHG (self-help group) in Maniyardi Village of Binpur, Jhargram. Lakhimani lives in a mud house surrounded by forest, with her husband and two sons.
The key to a satisfactory food and farming system is to bring together and promote at the same time the four most important concerns of protecting livelihoods, environment, biodiversity, and food safety.
In eastern Uttar Pradesh, the examples set by several women farmers, working on small farms and helped by the Gorakhpur Environment Action Group (GEAG), has inspired several others.
These encouraging efforts have been initiated by SRIJAN, a voluntary organization, as a part of a wider project called BIWAL for promoting sustainable development in the villages of Bundelkhand region. BIWAL’s model combining water conservation and natural farming has given a newfound strength to many farmers and rural communities.
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has alleged that the BJP government has made agriculture an unprofitable proposition.
As per the United Nations report the global population is set to reach nearly ten billion marks by 2050 for which food production must increase by 70 percent. But due to erosion and today’s climate crisis, the world has already lost one-third of its cropland in the last 40 years, making the practice of traditional agriculture a challenge.
The proposal of the Tribal Affairs Department includes the establishment of two Common Facility Centres (CFCs) at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore.
