HP govt halts BJP’s flagship natural farming scheme

SHIMLA : The Himachal Pradesh government has discontinued the “Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana”, one of the flagship scheme started by the Jai Ram Thakur-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to encourage chemical-free farming in the state.

Acharya Devvrat, the then governor of Himachal, who is now the governor of Gujarat, was the driving force behind the scheme.

Currently, over 1.71 lakh farmers are practising natural farming techniques in the state with their farms spread across an area of over 24,000 hectare. State agriculture minister Chander Kumar announced on Monday that the scheme is being discontinued and the state will promote organic farming through its schemes.

The state government allocated around ₹25 crore annually for the promotion of natural farming.

“Previous government had diverted the money sanctioned under agricultural technology management agency for organic farming to start this scheme,” he said, adding that MS Swaminathan was known as the father of green revolution in India and he encouraged chemical farming and organic farming.

“I have ordered the department to repatriate the state government staff on deputation at this scheme and terminate the services of the outsourced employees,’ the minister added.

What is natural farming

Natural farming discourages the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and instead relies on farm inputs derived from cow’s urine and dung, along with locally-sourced leaves.

This low-cost approach to agriculture is said to be in harmony with nature and ensures the production of chemical-free and nutrient-rich crops, thus promoting health and well-being of farmers and consumers.