NATURAL FARMING- DIFFERENT FORMS

NATURAL FARMING- DIFFERENT FORMS

Natural Farming is a chemical-free otherwise traditional farming method. It is considered as agro-ecology based diversified farming system which integrates crops, trees and livestock with functional biodiversity.

Natural Farming- What, When and Why?

• Natural farming also referred to as “the Fukuoka Method”, “the natural way of farming” or “do-nothing farming”.
• This ecological farming approach was established by Masanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008), a Japanese farmer and philosopher. He introduced the term in his book “The One-Straw Revolution” in 1
• According to Fukuoka farming is a means of producing both food and as an aesthetic or spiritual approach to life, of which ultimate goal was “the cultivation and perfection of human beings”.
• The system works along with the natural biodiversity of each farmed area, encouraging the complexity of living organisms (plant and animal) that shape each particular ecosystem to thrive along with food plants.
• Natural farming is a closed system that demands no human-supplied inputs and follows nature. Fukuoka suggested an approach that takes advantage of the local environment.
• He rejected the use of modern technology, as his farm demonstrated consistently comparable yields in comparison to technologically advanced farms in Japan, doing so without the pollution, energy consumption, and soil and environmental degradation. It raised the question on modern technology for process of growing food, if nature is capable of achieving similar yields without the negative side-effects of these technologies. Fukuoka used the presence of spiders in his fields as a key performance indicator of sustainability.
• Fukuoka claimed that his approach prevents water pollution, biodiversity loss and soil erosion, while providing ample amounts of food, and there is a growing body of scientific work in fields like agro-ecology and regenerative agriculture, that lend support to these claims.
• Natural farming is related to fertility farming, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, agro-ecology, agroforestry and permaculture, but should be distinguished from biodynamic agriculture.

Masanobu Fukuoka’s principles

Natural farming is a way of seeing ourselves as a part of nature, rather than separate from or above it. Accordingly, the methods themselves vary widely depending on culture and local conditions.

Fukuoka proposed natural farming into five principles:

• No tillage
• No fertilizer
• No pesticides or herbicides
• No weeding
• No pruning

Yoshikazu kawaguchi

Kawaguchi’s (Japan) was recognized widely after his appearance as the central character in the documentary “Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness”.

Although Kawaguchi’s practice is based on Fukuoka’s principals, his methods differ notably from those of Fukuoka. He re-states the core values of natural farming as:

• Do not plow the fields
• Weeds and insects are not your enemies
• There is no need to add fertilizers
• Adjust the foods you grow based on your local climate and conditions

No-till

• Natural farming recognizes soils as a fundamental natural asset. The soils itself possess properties that makes them capable of generating and supporting life abundance.
• Arguably, tilling may destroy physical characteristics of a soil, its ability to supply moisture upwards due to pressure differences between soil areas. Tilling most certainly destroys soil horizons and hence disrupts the flow of nutrients.
• Reduced tillage preserves the crop residues on top soil, allow organic matter formation that increases the total organic carbonand nitrogen resulted in increases bacteria Around 5% organic matter must be present in the soil for plants to thrive.
• Tilling uproots all the plants in the area, turning their roots into food for bacteria and fungi. This damages their ability to aerate the soil. Living roots drill millions of tiny holes in the soil and thus provide oxygen, besides create room for beneficial  Some types of roots contribute directly to soil fertility through mutualistic relationshipwith certain kinds of bacteria like rhizobium that can fix nitrogen.

Other forms of Natural farming

Fertility farming

This form is advocated by NewmanTurner in 1951, which suggested use of cover crop, no tillage, no chemical fertilizers, no pesticides, no weeding and no composting. Its principles are same as Fukuoka’s system of natural farming. Turner also advocates a “natural method” of animal husbandry.

Rishi Kheti

• In India, natural farming is termed as “Rishi Kheti” by practitioners like Partap Aggarwal.
• This method use cow products like buttermilk, milk, curd and its waste urine for preparing growth promoters.
• The Rishi Kheti is considered to be non-violent farming without any usage of chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
• Some small farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu use this farming method.

Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)

• It was introduced by agriculturist Subhash Palekar in the mid-1990s.
• It is a method of chemical-free agriculture relies on agro-ecology drawing from traditional Indian practices.
• It aims to bring down the cost of production to nearly zero and return to a pre-green revolution style of farming. ZBNF claims that there is no need for expensive inputs like fertilizers, pesticides and intensive irrigation.
• ZBNF is based on 4-pillars-
  Jeevamrutha: It is a mixture of fresh cow dung and aged cow urine from India’s indigenous cow breed, jaggery, pulse flour, water and soil to be applied on farmland.
  Bijamrita:It is a mixture of neem leaves & pulp, tobacco and green chilies prepared for insect-pest management, and also can be used for seeds treatments.
  Acchadana (Mulching): Mulching protects topsoil during cultivation and does not destroy it by tilling.
  Whapasa: It is the condition where there are both air molecules and water molecules present in the soil helps in reducing irrigation requirement.

Promotion of Natural Farming In India

• Natural farming is promoted as Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati Programme (BPKP) under centrally sponsored scheme- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).
• BPKP promotes traditional indigenous practices which reduces externally purchased inputs. It is largely based on on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on biomass mulching, use of on-farm cow dung-urine formulations; periodic soil aeration and exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs.
• Thus, natural farming will reduce dependency on purchased inputs and will help to ease smallholder farmers from credits burden. It is considered as a cost- effective farming practices with scope for raising employment and rural development.

Read also…
TYPES OF FARMING- SYSTEM OF FARMING
INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM
INTENSIVE FARMING-FEATURES, ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGE