By Sabyasachi Majumdar & Ram Singh
Indian agriculture used 32.93 million tons of synthetic chemical fertilizers (NPK) in 2024-25, with a fertilizer usage intensity of 151 kg ha-1 and a nitrogen-biased consumption ratio of 9.3:3.5:1. The overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has resulted in environmental pollution and soil degradation, compromised food safety and quality, and had a negative impact on human and animal health because conventional agriculture is mostly dependent on synthetic chemicals and petroleum energy. Additionally, National Sample Survey Organization (2020) reported that more than half of all farmers are in debt, and about 70% of households in the agricultural sector spend more than they make. Therefore, scientists and policymakers were encouraged to look for suitable alternative solutions to provide more sustainable food production with a pollution-free environment due to the country’s environmental and agricultural sustainability issues.
Under this context, natural farming is an emerging idea that is becoming more and more well-liked as a successful way to save input costs in agriculture by eliminating the usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. “Livestock-based and chemical-free farming” is the definition of natural farming. It is a diverse farming system that maximizes functional biodiversity through the integration of crops, plants, and livestock. Additionally, natural farming acknowledges the critical connection of soil, water, microbiota, plants, animals, and humans and is based on traditional Indian knowledge. In short, natural farming focuses more on farmer-centric methods in which agriculture and farmers function as a system in balance with the environment. Under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY) umbrella program, the government of India began encouraging natural farming in 2019 through the Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhti (BPKP) sub-scheme. With a focus on on-farm biomass recycling, biomass mulching, the use of cow dung-urine formulations, and plant-based preparations, BPKP was designed to promote traditional indigenous practices that provide farmers with freedom from externally purchased inputs while excluding all synthetic chemical inputs, either directly or indirectly. Moreover, the government of India has also established the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) as a distinct and autonomous scheme in 2024 to encompass an area of 7.5 lakh hectares through the establishment of 15,000 clusters.
Being an agrarian country, rearing cows is an integral component of Indian agriculture. Because of their nourishing nature and the belief that they grant wishes; cows are frequently referred to as “Kamdhenu” or “Gaumata.” In this connection, the Desi cow is regarded as the heart of natural farming because of its many products, including milk, urine, and dung, all of which have been shown to significantly contribute to soil fertility and insect-pest management. A cow generates approximately 15-20 kg of dung and 10-13 L of urine daily. Cow dung (Gomaya) and cow urine (Gomutra) are important components of traditional indigenous preparation such as Jeevamrutha and Beejamrutha, the two important pillars of natural farming. Bioformulations (Jeevamrutha and Beejamrutha) made from the products of indigenous cows can provide sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative soil inoculants because cow urine and dung are rich in microbial consortia. Therefore, soil inoculants can improve soil health by enriching the soil with beneficial microorganisms and reduce the enormous demand for dung and the difficulty of preparing and storing solid composts for natural farming.
200 litres of jeevamrutha require about 10 kilograms of cow dung, whereas beejamrutha requires about 5 kg. Therefore, it can be stated that cow dung effectively becomes a kind of biofertilizer that enhances the soil with nutrients that plants may absorb when it is mixed with the other components of jeevamrutha and beejamrutha. The addition of this fermented microbial culture to the soil increases the activity of soil microorganisms and earthworms, enabling them to carry out all the advantageous tasks. On the other side, the microflora present in cow urine is good for plant growth because it contains microorganisms with antimicrobial activity, which enhances soil fertility, productivity, and quality. Cow dung, urine, gram flour, jaggery, soil, and water are combined to make jeevamrutha, which is then fermented for four days in a cool environment with frequent stirring. The bioformulation is then ready to be applied to fields by foliar spraying or mixing with irrigation water. The aforementioned bioformulation works well up to the eighth day of preparation, when the number of bacterial colonies begins to decline. One of the advantages of using jeevamrutha effectively is the growth of bacteria in rhizospheric soil. On the other hand, beejamrutha is mainly used for seed treatment.
In contrast to conventional agriculture, natural farming systems naturally associate with a number of ecological processes, including soil microbes, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and natural pest control techniques. Additionally, natural farming causes a delay in the agricultural system’s stabilization, particularly during the transition period. The performance of natural farming systems is also impacted by regional variations in agroclimatic conditions, which is another important environmental limitation. The efficiency of natural farming techniques is determined by variables like temperature, soil type, soil organic carbon content, moisture availability, and rainfall dispersion. Nevertheless, despite various constraints, natural farming provides ecosystem services by using indigenous seeds that are climate resilient, conserving and managing water, using an integrated farming system approach, revitalizing soil microbial diversity, enhancing soil fertility, and controlling pests and diseases. Therefore, in order for farmers to adopt natural farming on a large scale, it is urgently necessary to provide subsidies for the preparation of bio-inputs, government policy support, institutional support for capacity building in bio-inputs preparation, appropriate market linkages, and market price regulation for the natural farming products.
(The writers are from the College of Agriculture, Central Agricultural University (Imphal), Kyrdemkulai)
