Zero budget natural farming (ZBNF) is back on top of the Government’s agricultural agenda, with PM set to highlight it at a national conclave.
Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)
- ZBNF is a set of farming methods, and also a grassroots peasant movement, which has spread to various states in India.
- Subhash Palekar perfected it during the 1990s at his farm in Amravati district in Maharashtra’s drought-prone Vidarbha region.
- According to the “zero budget” concept, farmers won’t have to spend any money on fertilisers and other agricultural inputs.
- Over 98% of the nutrients that crops require — carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, solar energy — are already present in nature.
- The remaining 1.5-2% are taken from the soil, after microorganisms convert them from “non-
Four Wheels of ZBNF
The “four wheels” of ZBNF are ‘Jiwamrita’, ‘Bijamrita’, ‘Mulching’ and ‘Waaphasa’.
- Jiwamrita is a fermented mixture of cow dung and urine (of desi breeds), jaggery, pulses flour, water and soil from the farm bund.
- This isn’t a fertilizer, but just a source of some 500 crore micro-organisms that can convert all the necessary “non-available” nutrients into “available” form.
- Bijamrita 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.
- Mulching, 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.
- Waaphasa, or providing water to maintain the required moisture-air balance, also achieves the same objective.
Astra’s of ZBNF against pest attacks
- ZBNF advocates the use of special ‘Agniastra’, ‘Bramhastra’, and ‘Neemastra’ concoctions.
- They are based on cow urine and dung, plus pulp from leaves of neem, white datura, papaya, guava, and pomegranates — for controlling pest and disease attacks.
Is it organic farming?
- ZBNF uses farmyard manure or vermicompost.
Issues with ZBNF
- Cost of labor: The cost of labor for the collection of dung and urine, apart from the other inputs used in the preparation of Jiwamrita, Neemastra or Bramhastra is quit higher.
- Bovine cost: Keeping cows is also a cost that has to be accounted for. Farmers cannot afford to keep desi cows that yield very little milk.
- Vulnerability to pest attacks: ZBNF is scarcely practiced. The crop grown would be vulnerable to attacks by insects and pests have already become pest-immune.
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