Governor Acharya Devvrat inaugurated the three day Farmers Training Camp on Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) under “Prakritik Kheti Khushhaal Kisan Yojana” in the third phase organised by the Agriculture department at Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni in Solan district today.On the occasion, the Governor said that natural farming was an established scientific practice and only thing was to bring it in the main stream so that the mission of doubling the income of farmers upto 2022 could be achieved. He added that with the collective efforts of the state government, farmers and scientists, packages of practice would be developed so that the state could inspire others for natural farming.Acharya Devvrat said, "we should change our biased mindset and perception about the practice of natural farming and added that it was unfortunate that we have made India's traditional natural farming expensive. It was a time to propagate the concern of Padam Shri Dr. Subhash Palekar, who was the father of this agri practice and after about 10 years of extensive research, he found it durable. He added that we should give direction to the farming community and said that the farmers of the state were progressive and hoped that they were serious towards ZBNF. He said that the latest research in natural farming has confirmed that mixture of cow urine and dung processed and procured from local breed cows would be able to provide enough nutrients for about 30 acres land. Continuous use of this mixture would improve fertility of the soil as well.
He congratulated the state government for taking the mission seriously and had provided budget of Rs. 25 crore in the first instance under Prakritik Kheti Khushhaal Kisan Yojana for the welfare of farming community. He said that most of the health related problems, global warming, nature imbalance, pollution etc were the result of chemical farming. Opposite of this, ZBNF increases carbon contents in the soil, saves environment and uses less water, he added and detailed other benefits of natural farming. He urged the farmers to actively participate in the training camp and get the full knowledge from experts. Dr. H.C. Sharma, Vice Chancellor welcomed the Governor and said that on his direction, the University has earmarked more than 25 Acres of land for ZBNF besides that students were indulging in research activities on natural farming. Shri Onkar Sharma, Principal Secretary, Agriculture welcomed the Governor on the occasion and said that the state government on the guidelines of the Governor, who has vast experience of natural farming, has started "Prakritik Krishi, Khushhaal Kisan Yojana". Under the scheme, training camps were being organized to sensitize and aware the farmers about natural farming.Dr. Wazir Singh, Master Trainer also spoke on the occasion and detailed various aspects of natural farming.Shri Rakesh Kanwar, Project Director, ZBNF proposed vote of thanks and said that every effort would be made to make this programme successful as it was related to the economy of farmers. He urged the students of the University to associate with this mission so that the vision of the Governor could be implemented in the state. Col (Dr.) Dhani Ram Shandil, MLA, Shri Vinod Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Solan, Shri Madhusudan Sharma, Superintendent of Police, Dr. Des Raj Sharma, Director, Agriculture, Dr. Rajeshwar Chandel, Associate Director, ZBNF, other senior officers and progressive farmers were present on the occasion.