Zero budget natural farming is a type of farming that promotes chemical-free agricultural practices. It was originally introduced by agriculturist Subhash Palekar in the mid-1990s as an alternative to the Green Revolution methods. In the recent years, ZBNF was introduced by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2016, as an alternative to chemical-based and capital-intensive agriculture through its implementing agency Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS). The term ‘zero budget’ means zero cost of production of all crops. It is based on four pillars, i.e.

• Jeevamrit (nectar of life): A fermented microbial culture derived primarily from cow dung and urine, jaggery, pulse flour and uncontaminated soil. Beejamrit (treatment of the seeds): Microbial coating of seed, seedlings by using cow dung. urine and lime.
• Acchadana (mulching): It is the process of covering the top soil with cover crops and crop residues.
• Waaphasa: It means soil aeration.

The traditional conventional farming, which is widely practiced in India, is dependent on extensive use of HYV seeds, fertiliser, pesticides, use of modern heavy equipment (like tractors, harvesters) etc. Significance of Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) over traditional conventional farming includes:

• Use of chemical-free inputs: While traditional farming practices are driven by using chemicals, zero budget natural farming promotes low-cost inputs such as the use of cow dung, aged cow urine, jaggery, pulse flour and other plant-based extracts.
• Relief from debt cycle: Traditional farming requires various inputs which are costly and farmers are forced to take loans. According to the FAO, ZBNF promises to end reliance on loans, which in turn, could help in ending the debt cycle for farmers.
• Eco-friendly: ZBNF processes require 50%-60% less water and less electricity (than non- ZBNF) for all the selected crops as compared to traditional farming.
• Improving soil health: The ZBNF method promotes soil aeration, minimal watering, inter- cropping, bunds and topsoil mulching. It also discourages intensive irrigation and deep ploughing, which is required in the conventional farming.

Challenges associated with ZBNF as compared to traditional farming:

• Threat to food security: Recently, the ICAR highlighted that ZBNF would result in tremendous reduction in production of agricultural crops as compared to traditional agriculture being practiced, thus compromising India’s food security.
  • For instance, against claims that organic methods can produce comparable yields to conventional farming, domestic rice production fell 20 percent in Sri Lanka. The country which was self-sufficient in rice production was forced to import rice.
• Not ‘zero budget’ in absolute terms: ZBNF is hardly ‘zero budget’, as it includes wages of hired labour, imputed value of family labour, imputed rent over owned land, costs of maintaining cows and paid-out costs on electricity and pump sets, etc. Thus, when compared to traditional farming yields, the benefit in terms of cost is not appreciable.
• Other issues in ZBNF: In Andhra Pradesh, it has been found that in farmlands on which chemical farming has been practised intensively, the soil quality is poor and does not respond quickly to ZBNF.
  • Also, in crops such as paddy, standing water in the field inhibits soil microbial population, which in turn impacts the yield after farmers switch to ZBNF.

It is necessary that before pushing the states to adopt ZBNF, the Centre should collect scientific data on how ZBNF technique affects yields after discounting the impact of drought years, soil quality and other external factors. The food security of the country, besides the livelihood of millions of farmers, needs to be borne in mind before plunging into natural farming.