Emphasis on natural farming grows, but budget and spending remain low

The 2025-26 budget allocates Rs 616 crore to the National Mission on Natural Farming, which is higher than last year's allocation. However, given previous years' performance, this amount is unlikely to be fully utilized.

Emphasis on natural farming grows, but budget and spending remain low

For the past few years, there has been considerable discussion about promoting natural farming. The central government has placed significant emphasis on this initiative. However, budget figures from recent years do not appear very encouraging in terms of actual financial support for natural farming.

Inspired by Subhash Palekar's Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), the Finance Minister emphasised adopting Zero Budget Farming in the 2019-20 budget speech. Subsequently, an attempt was made to encourage farmers to shift from chemical farming to natural farming through the Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP) sub-scheme under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY). However, only ₹325 crore was allocated for the scheme in 2019-20, out of which just ₹284 crore was spent. 

Budget of the scheme to promote natural farming

(in crores rupees)

Year Budget Estimates Revised Estimates Actual
2019-20 325 299 284
2020-21 500 350 381
2021-22 450 100 89
2022-23 0 0 0
2023-24 459 100 30
2024-25 366 100
2025-26 616
Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana from 2019-23, National Natural Farming Mission from 2023, Source: Union Budget, GoI

A similar trend continued in 2020-21 when a budget of ₹500 crore was announced for the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, but actual expenditure amounted to only ₹381 crore. In 2021-22, the scheme’s budget was reduced to ₹450 crore, yet only ₹89 crore was spent. Eventually, the central government discontinued the scheme, merging several such schemes into the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna.

In the 2022-23 budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to promote chemical-free natural farming with a focus on farmers’ lands in 5 km wide corridors along the river Ganga. The 2023-24 budget aimed to facilitate one crore farmers in adopting natural farming over three years, with a plan to establish 10,000 bio-input resource centres. Despite these ambitious targets, only ₹459 crore was allocated to the National Natural Farming Mission in 2023-24, later reduced to ₹100 crore in the revised estimates, while actual expenditure was merely ₹30 crore. 

In 2024-25, the budget for the National Mission on Natural Farming was set at ₹366 crore, but in the revised estimates, it was further cut to just ₹100 crore. Now, for 2025-26, the National Mission on Natural Farming has been allocated ₹616 crore—an increase from the previous year but, considering past spending trends, it remains uncertain how much of it will actually be utilized.

Year after year, the low expenditure compared to budget allocations highlights the challenges in effectively promoting natural farming. While the central government is running this program in mission mode, the ambitious goal of connecting one crore farmers and implementing natural farming across 7.5 lakh hectares remains a significant challenge.

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