THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Karshaka Sangham has condemned the agriculture department’s move in forcing farmers to take up zero budget natural farming (ZBNF). The organisation said that imposing the new method – which requires farming sans the use of fertilisers or pesticides – was unacceptable, though it added it was not against experimental initiatives.Scientific approach should be give significance in such cases, the organisation said in a statement. The state’s land-use patterns and crops are to be considered, the organisation said.
The statement also cited the position of ICAR in the issue, which had rejected the Subhash Palekar Natural Farming method (SPNF), formerly known as ZBNF. Since a lack of clarity exists on productivity and feasibility of the SPNF method, it will not be useful in time of the pandemic, the statement said. “Farmers should not be made part of an experiment at a time when the state is striving to ramp up agriculture
productivity,” said K N Balagopal, who is state secretary of the Kerala Karshaka Sangham.