(Image: DhruvStar Industry Insights | Original Artwork)
India’s Push Toward Natural Farming
At the South India Natural Farming Summit 2025 Coimbatore, the focus was on positioning India as a global centre for natural farming by promoting soil-friendly practices and reducing dependence on chemical inputs.
The summit highlighted how traditional knowledge, scientific methods and modern agricultural approaches can together strengthen the natural farming ecosystem.
Read More: Bharat International Rice Conference
Expanding the Natural Farming Ecosystem
During the South India Natural Farming Summit, discussions emphasised growing adoption across the country. The National Mission on Natural Farming has already reached lakhs of farmers, and around 35,000 hectares in Tamil Nadu are under organic and natural farming.
Stakeholders encouraged farmers to begin by converting at least one acre each year and expand gradually through community-led efforts and support from Farmer Producer Organisations.
Financial Support and Policy Measures
Key announcements at the South India Natural Farming Summit 2025 highlighted ongoing financial support for the farming community that has led to a doubling of agricultural exports over the past 11 years.
Assistance exceeding INR 10 lakh crore has been provided under the Kisan Credit Card scheme for agriculture and allied sectors.
The reduction in GST on bio-fertilisers has eased input costs.
Under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi, the latest instalment of INR 18,000 crore was transferred to farmers, taking the total support to INR 4 lakh crore to date.
Read More: Agriculture - NITI Aayog’s Frontier Tech-Led Transformation Roadmap
Strengthening Research, Training and Multi-Crop Practices
The South India Natural Farming Summit Coimbatore stressed the importance of diversified cropping systems and the integration of natural farming into academic and research programmes.
Institutions were encouraged to create hands-on learning models by treating farms as living laboratories.
Experts also highlighted the need for structured training, certification and capacity-building frameworks to scale natural farming sustainably.
Read More: India International Trade Fair 2025
DhruvStar Industry Insights: What it Means for the Indian Agriculture Sector
- Developing Certification-Based Training Models: Private companies and agri-startups can collaborate with government agencies to offer certified natural farming training.
- Strengthening FPOs for Market Access: FPOs can be enabled to aggregate natural-farming produce, provide input support and coordinate buyers for millets and diversified crops.
- Encouraging Soil-Health and Diversification Services: Agri-tech firms and cooperatives can provide soil testing, advisory tools and multi-crop planning services aligned with natural farming.
Sources
[1] PIB
Great overview of the summit! It is encouraging to see farms becoming living labs, that could be a game-changer for scaling natural farming.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your valuable comment. It is indeed essential that farming be made sustainable as the growing population will put pressure on land, water, and other natural resources, which are limited.
Delete