Closing the Nutrient Loop
A balanced supply of nutrients is essential for healthy plant growth.
“Regenerative agriculture provides answers to the soil crisis, the food crisis, the health crisis, the climate crisis and the crisis of democracy.”
- Vandana Shiva, Indian Activist
Zero Budget Natural Farming is a set of agroecological farming methods that originated in the State of Karnataka, India. The aim was to establish an approach to farming that could decouple smallholder farmers from the risk of debt associated with the high costs of seeds, fertilisers, and other inputs.
For many subsistence farmers, just one poor harvest, caused by late rains or a powerful monsoon, can tip the balance and be catastrophic for the farmer’s livelihood. Zero Budget Natural Farming directly tackles the debt issue by removing the requirement for costly inputs.
This method has also been proved to be more effective than ‘conventional’ farming, producing higher yields of more nutritious food, and increasing resilience.
Zero Budget Natural Farming restores soil health and eliminates the need for expensive and harmful chemicals through the application of four principles:
Creation of biologically active soils through the addition of a fermented microbial culture;
Natural treatment of seeds and other planting materials against diseases;
Layering of organic material on ground surface to protect and enhance topsoil;
More effective water management, including the avoidance of overwatering.
Applying the principles of Zero Budget Natural Farming improves food security and can lead to greater profits for farmers, because input costs are reduced and yields can typically increase 40% or more.
Zero Budget Natural Farming also prevents exposure to harmful chemicals that cause illness, medical costs, and lost opportunities. This is not a theoretical issue – every day hundreds of Indian farmers and other rural inhabitantsmake train journeysto be treated for cancer caused by over-exposure to fertilisers and pesticides.
The biggest benefit from Zero Budget Natural Farming is building the resilience of farmers as the impacts of climate change become a reality. In 2017, a powerful hailstorm passed over the Indian district of West Godavari. One farmer, Satya, saw many of his neighbours’ farms destroyed, whilehis six-acre banana plantation escaped mostly unscathed.He explained that it was “because my plants were much stronger”, as a result of the application of Zero Budget Natural Farming techniques.
The government of Andhra Pradesh clearly sees the benefits of farms like Satya’s. Currently, there are about 200,000 farmers in the state practicing Zero Budget Natural Farming, and by 2024 they plan to increase that number to6 million over an area of 8 million hectares.
A balanced supply of nutrients is essential for healthy plant growth.
Working with nature to regenerate the land.
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