NABARD Research Study No. 43

On the other hand, the ICAR-IIFSR findings from the field trials suggested that the soil carbon content of the ZBNF field was lower than the ICM and was just as good as the control field (control field is the one where no inputs are added). [...] The production of foodgrains has increased significantly in the last few decades, especially since the launch of the green revolution in the 1960s; the use of chemical fertilizers (containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) has also increased correspondingly. [...] Section 5 examines ZBNF as an agricultural system, from the point of view of environmental sustainability, profitability for farmers, the productivity of crops, and national food security by juxtaposing the methodologies and findings of two critical studies on ZBNF, one by the CESS and IDSAP, and the other by ICAR-IIFSR. [...] The plan includes mass awareness programmes and scientist-farmers interactions called ‘Kisan Goshtis’ (ICAR, 2021) to increase the know-how of ZBNF farmers; increasing the production of native cattle germplasm by the Animal Husbandry department of the state to cover for the need of inputs from a desi cow in the programme; assistance of 75 percent for pest management considering the slow progress t. [...] In the initial stage, scaling natural farming in the entire state involves encouraging special activities and workshops to incline farmers in 100 villages in each of the 52 districts and commencing the programme in all 5,200 districts in the Kharif-2022.