VIJAYAWADA: Agriculture sector advisor T Vijay Kumar has said the State government will expand natural farming to 1.25 lakh hectares of land across 3,000 villages in the 2018-19 fiscal. By 2018, the area of organic crop cultivation in the State stood at 63,000 hectares across 972 villages.Speaking to the media at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Thursday, the retired IAS officer said the State government in pursuance of farmers’ welfare, has taken the pioneering step of implementing Zero-Budget Natural Farming Programme (ZBNF) on a large scale.
Explaining about the benefits of ZBNF, he said soil fertility enhancement through bio inoculants and sound agronomical practices, consistent yields, restoration of ecosystem services, conservation of biodiversity, use of local seeds, multi-cropping with tree cover, ability of farms to withstand extreme climatic events, safe and nutritious food and improvement in health are some of its benefits.
He said Sustainable India Finance Facility (SIFF) is working with the State government for extending the ZBNF programme with an investment of Rs 16,134 crore in the next six years. Stating that on June 2, the government would officially launch the programme to extend ZBNF to 6 million farmers by 2024, he said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be making the formal announcement about the plan.
During the event, there will be key speeches from international dignitaries including Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment, Sunny Verghese, Chair, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Olam International, Pavan Sukhdev, President of WWF International, Antoine Sire, Member of the Global management Committee, BNP Paribas SA and others.
Zero-Budget Natural Farming Programme
1.60 lakh farmers in 972 villages across all 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh are practicing ZBNF in 63,000 hectares
In 2018-19, the government targets to cover 5 lakh farmers in 1.25 lakh hectares in 3000 villages of the State.