Governor Acharya Devvrat today inaugurated the three day Farmers Training Camp of “Prakritik Kheti Khushhaal Kisan Yojana” under Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) organised by the Agriculture department at Palampur in Kangra district.On the occasion, Acharya Devvrat said that Badsar and Jiya Panchayats of Palampur would be the first to take lead in implementing natural farming in the district. He added that it was a historical day when the mission for which he was diligent from last two and half years, was now taking a practical shape. He congratulated the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Jai Ram Thakur for implementing the model of natural farming in a real sense and said that it was pious mission to save the future generation and protect the fertile land.The Governor said that the past practice of chemical farming and organic farming was not fit in present context. "As far as chemical farming is concerned, the products so produced are harmful and poisonous and is also costly. Similarly, cost of production in organic farming is high and it absorbs more essential nutrients from soil," therefore, zero budget natural farming is the best alternative for farming, said Acharya Devvrat.
He added that side effects of chemical farming could be dealt with natural farming. He detailed out various reasons and merits of adopting natural farming and latest reports and recommendation of Indian Council of Agriculture Research which was favourable.He said that natural farming was a better option for making the nation self-reliant in agriculture sector and said that the produce out of natural farming helped not only in a healthy living but was environment friendly too.Acharya Devvrat said that zero budget natural farming was the only solution to save the farmers and double their income. Under this system, the farmers do not have to spend even a single penny , but get more benefits such as rejuvenate the barren land, minimum use of water, safe production for health, save the environment etc. He urged the farmers to rear Indian breed cow to adopt natural farming.Dr. Shrikant Baldi, Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Principal Secretary to Chief Minister welcomed the Governor and thanked him for inaugurating the first camp under new scheme Prakritik Kheti Khushhaal Kisan Yojana started by the Chief Minister. He said that the Governor was the main inspiration and knowledge provider behind the zero budget natural farming and thanked him for providing leadership in this direction. He said that the Governor himself adopted this model of agriculture in Gurukul Kurukshetra in about 200 acre of land and was successfully implementing it.
He said that ZBNF not only provides food security but was safe in many ways besides easy to adopt, that is why the state Government has started the work in this direction and had provided budgetary provision of Rs. 25 crore to benefit the farmers of the state. Shri Onkar Sharma, Principal Secretary, Agriculture welcomed the Governor on the occasion and detailed the progress of agriculture in the state. He thanked the Governor for providing guidelines in implementing the Zero Budget Natural Farming in the State. He said that the agriculture department in assistance with other line departments, would organize more such camps in the state so that more farmers would be benefitted out of it. He assured that all efforts would be made to implement this in a wide perspective.Dr. Wazir, Master Trainer of ZBNF gave detailed presentation on the subject and briefed about the benefits and various aspects of natural farming.Dr. Des Raj Sharma, Director, Agriculture proposed vote of thanks.Shri Ashish Butail, MLA, Prof. Ashok Saral, Vice Chancellor, Agriculture University, Palampur, Dr. Shashikant Sharma, Advisor to Governor, Senior officers of Agriculture department and Agriculture University, District Administration, prominent people of the district and progressive farmers of Palampur Sub-Division were also present in the camp.