Camps to popularise natural farming

The Natural Agricultural Movement Forum (NAMF), a State-level organisation of farm leaders from different districts, has drawn up plans to bring more farmers into zero budget natural farming in a comprehensive way.

Having conducted around 25 camps and trained over 6,000 farmers, the NAMF has taken up two intensive state-level programmes at Davangere and Hassan and train 4,000 farmers in natural farming methods. This will be followed by camps in other districts.

To be conducted during July later half, the trainee-farmers will be taken care with food and accommodation. Maharashtra's well-known farm scientist Subash Palekar, who is spearheading the movement, will conduct the training programmes.

Hybrid seeds, chemical-based fertilisers, pesticides, and even wormiculture were destroying traditional methods and fertility of the mother earth. Turning the farmlands barren, they were also causing crop failures, lesser yields, debt burden leading to farmers' suicides, NAMF Convener R Swami Anand noted today.

Even wormiculture was causing damage to agricultural lands, as earthworms were not local. They being imported variety, the worms were destroying the local variety earthworms and once they died, ants and pests attached the crops.

Realising the havoc by these imported agrarian methods, farmers were now keen on reviving natural farming methods, which were being practiced since centuries.

As a result, the NAMF camps were receiving very good response. The zero budget natural farming, like use of cow dung and cow urine, was showing excellent results with bumper yields within one year.