MUMBAI: Lupin Foundation organised a six-day residential workshop on natural farming, aimed at training Indian farmers on innovative, cost-effective and environment-friendly natural farming techniques.
Padma Shri Awardee Subhash Palekar planned and delivered the lectures with demonstration sessions and also provided guidance on making farm-use products such as Jeevaamrit, Beejamrit, Gan Jeevaamrit and other bio- pesticides.
More than 7000 farmers from various states – including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra – participated in the training camp.
Earlier this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the promotion of Zero Budget Natural Farming in the Union Budget 2019 to boost farmer’s income and save them from the debt trap. Zero Budget Natural Farming is an accepted practise in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh with widespread adoption – over 30 million farmers practise this approach.
Key government officials that attended the workshop included Dr. Subhash Garg, Minister Of Technical Education And Health, Govt. of Rajasthan, Jaipur; Chandra Mohan Sharma, Addl. PS to Minister of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India, New Delhi; Ajay Shankar Singh, Chief Comptroller, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi; Bhajan Lal Jatav, State Minister of Agriculture & Home Guard, Govt. of Rajasthan; and Kailash Choudhary, Union State Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfares, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
Sitaram Gupta, Executive Director, Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, said, “We are eager and enthusiastic about this initiative. This programme aims to complement our Government’s efforts towards doubling of farmer’s income by 2022. Lupin Foundation is aiming to improve income for farmers by aligning with Natural Farming. We would train the farmers and equip them with the knowledge on how farming is done in sync with the nature, so as to cut down farming expenditure drastically.”
This is yet another initiative from Lupin Foundation that aims to perform activities aligned with the government’s objectives – in this case, creating opportunities for uplifting farmers in India.
