BUSINESS
\nMeet \u2018zero budget\u2019 Vidarbha farmer who was mentioned in Budget speech
\nSubhash Palekar \u2014 came in the Union Budget speech of Nirmala Sitharaman, where she talked of the need to \u201cgo back to basics\u201d and \u201creplicate this innovative model (that) can help in doubling our farmers\u2019 income in time for our 75th year of Independence\u201d.<\/p>\n
Subhash Palekar
\nTHE ECONOMIC Survey on Thursday mentioned Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) along with Vedic Farming, Homa Farming and Cow Farming \u2014 and how these \u201cclimate friendly\u201d agricultural practices can enable \u201celimination of chemical pesticides\u201d and restoration of soil organic matter and fertility.
\nBut an even bigger push for ZBNF and the 70-year-old behind it \u2014 Subhash Palekar \u2014 came in the Union Budget speech of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, where she talked of the need to \u201cgo back to basics\u201d and \u201creplicate this innovative model (that) can help in doubling our farmers\u2019 income in time for our 75th year of Independence\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to the \u201czero budget\u201d concept, farmers won\u2019t have to spend any money on fertilisers and other agricultural inputs. While over 98% of the nutrients that crops require \u2014 carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, solar energy \u2014 are already present in nature, the remaining 1.5-2% are taken from the soil, after microorganisms convert them from \u201cnon-available\u201d to \u201cavailable\u201d forms, for intake by the roots.<\/p>\n
This is where the special package of practices which, Palekar says he perfected during the 1990s at his 36-acre farm in Belura village of Amravati district in Maharashtra\u2019s drought-prone Vidarbha region, comes in.<\/p>\n
The \u201cfour wheels\u201d of ZBNF are \u2018Jiwamrita\u2019, \u2018Bijamrita\u2019, \u2018Mulching\u2019 and \u2018Waaphasa\u2019, says Palekar, a Padma Shri awardee.
\nJiwamrita is a fermented mixture of cow dung and urine (of desi breeds), jaggery, pulses flour, water and soil from the farm bund. This isn\u2019t a fertiliser, but just a source of some 500 crore micro-organisms that can convert all the necessary \u201cnon-available\u201d nutrients into \u201cavailable\u201d form.
\nBijamrita is a mix of desi cow dung and urine, water, bund soil and lime that is used as a seed treatment solution prior to sowing.
\nMulching, or covering the plants with a layer of dried straw or fallen leaves, is meant to conserve soil moisture and keep the temperature around the roots at 25-32 degrees Celsius, which allows the microorganisms to do their job.
\nBEST OF EXPRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Meet \u2018zero budget\u2019 Vidarbha farmer who was mentioned in Budget speech
\nWaaphasa, or providing water to maintain the required moisture-air balance, also achieves the same objective.
\nPalekar also advocates the use of special \u2018Agniastra\u2019, \u2018Bramhastra\u2019 and \u2018Neemastra\u2019 concoctions \u2014 again based on desi cow urine and dung, plus pulp from leaves of neem, white datura, papaya, guava and pomegranates \u2014 for controlling pest and disease attacks.<\/p>\n
Asked if this isn\u2019t just organic farming, Palekar says: \u201cNo. There, they use farmyard manure or vermicompost mostly produced from Eisenia fedita, a species imported from Europe and Canada. These foreign earthworms accumulate heavy metals like lead, arsenic and cadmium, which get transferred into their castings that, far from being manure, are actually toxic to the soil. So, the soil fertility, instead of improving, only reduces\u201d. He says that in ZBNF, the work of making nutrients available to plants is done exclusively by microorganisms from Jiwamrita and \u201clocal earthworms\u201d.
\nHowever, not all farmers are convinced about ZBNF.
\nMORE EXPLAINED
\nWhat to look for in the Union Budget 2019
\n\u201cHe says his technique is zero-budget. But what about the cost of labour for collection of dung and urine, apart from the other inputs used in preparation of Jiwamrita, Neemastra or Bramhastra? Keeping cows is also a cost that has to be accounted for. How many farmers can afford to keep desi cows that yield very little milk,\u201d says Deepak Bhise, a tomato grower from Yedgaon village in Pune district\u2019s Junnar taluka.
\nHe points out that if ZBNF is practiced in isolation, the crop grown would be vulnerable to attacks by insects and pests which may move there from fields where chemical pesticides are being sprayed.
\nLalit Patil Bahale, leader of farmers\u2019 organisation Shetkari Sanghatana, is even more dismissive: \u201cThese so-called techniques are being promoted only for denying farmers cutting-edge technology, including genetic modification. They are a cruel joke being played on Indian agriculture\u201d.
\nBut Palekar is not deterred. \u201cMany state governments, including Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka have openly supported ZBNF after studying its efficacy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUSINESS Meet \u2018zero budget\u2019 Vidarbha farmer who was mentioned in Budget speech Subhash Palekar \u2014 came in the Union Budget speech of Nirmala Sitharaman, where she talked of the need to \u201cgo back to basics\u201d and \u201creplicate this innovative model (that) can help in doubling our farmers\u2019 income in time for our 75th year of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4420,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions\/4420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}