Zero Budget Natural Farming: Highly Debated Concept of Indian Agriculture

Abstract

Zero budget natural farming (ZBNF) is a newly hatched agricultural system that has become enormously popular in recent years. Zero budget natural farming is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach, which discards the use of all the chemical inputs and depends on natural ways. Zero budget farmers rely on soil conservation techniques, mulching, fertilizers, natural pesticides and crop residues to improve soil health. It promotes the use of on-farm resources and indigenous animals to develop a natural means of cultivation. Since this method was new there were several claims to its scientific reliability. It needs a strong scientific evaluation or validation of its claim from research bodies like ICAR to study its impacts on agriculture.