Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking up the campaign of natural farming and digital agriculture in mission mode and said that with this sacred goal, we will be able to leave the earth in a safe form for the coming generations. With these campaigns, there will also be a system for the protection of animals and human life.
Work started in the direction of natural farming in Madhya Pradesh from 2021 and till now more than 59000 farmers have joined this campaign, CM Chouhan said.
In digital agriculture, work is being done in the interest of the farmers of the state using crop survey, reference registry, pharma registry and PM Kisan data base, he said.
Chouhan said this in a meeting on Natural Farming and Digital Agriculture held under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. CM Shri Chouhan attended the meeting virtually from the residence office. Union Minister of Agriculture Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya were present. Presentation was made on Natural Farming and Digital Agriculture.
In the meeting, the Chief Ministers of Manipur, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and Agriculture Ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh informed about the activities conducted in the field of natural farming and digital agriculture in their respective states.
Chief Minister Chouhan said that the employees of Agriculture Department are in constant touch with the farmers to provide encouragement and guidance to the farmers adopting natural farming in the state. Farmer brothers should be able to do natural farming easily, for this purpose Rs. 900 per month is being provided to them as an incentive for rearing desi (indigenous) cows.
Students doing graduation and post graduation in agriculture courses are being linked with natural farming.
E-procurement and crop insurance schemes in the field of digital agriculture have simplified the processes for the farmers.
Facility of selling agricultural produce is being made available to the farmers from home and from the field itself.
Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah said that today’s meeting has been held with a view to bring innovations being made by various states in the field of natural farming and digital agriculture in one direction.
Natural farming is the traditional farming based on cows, which is based on the conservation of all the elements of the earth.
Once upon a time it was said that rivers of milk and ghee flowed in the land of India. Presently this situation will be restored only by natural farming.
Union Minister Shah suggested adopting activities like incorporating natural farming in the curriculum of agricultural universities, to create a positive mindset of the farmer on natural farming by senior agriculture devlopment offficers of the department, undertaking farmers’ visits to successful natural farming villages in a mission mode and to link Gaushalas with natural farming.
Union Minister Shah said that the implementation of activities related to digital agriculture has started in India only as a result of the vision of Prime Minister Modi.
In our country full of agricultural diversity, this campaign will help in producing various agricultural products according to the demand of the country and the country will be self-sufficient in various products. Techniques based on Artificial Intelligence will help in getting the right price for the produce of the farmers.
Along with this, efforts to double the income of the farmer can be taken forward in an institutional form.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to ensure that the rights of the eligible people reach them without hindrance with transparency.
Digital agriculture will bring revolutionary changes in the implementation of schemes of the Central and State Governments.
Intensive efforts are being made to change farmers’ mindset and provide training to them so they may adopt natural farming.
The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya said that it is necessary to encourage natural farming in view of the harmful effects of chemical fertilisers on human health.
The production has increased due to more use of chemical fertilisers, but it has also increased the nutritional imbalance of food items. Natural farming products are beneficial in terms of health.
The farmers will also get better price for them.
Digital agriculture will help in adding value to the farmers’ product and making the benefits of the scheme easily available to the farmers.
In the presentation made in the meeting, it was told that Prime Minister Modi has called for making chemical-free traditional farming a mass movement by using cow dung, urine and vegetation in natural farming. Natural farming is conducive to soil health and climate change. It also reduces the cost.
In the presentation on digital agriculture, it was told that by creating digital identity of farmers, their land, crops to be cultivated by the farmers and various information would be linked to the concerned organisation.
This will help in creating a database of farmers, providing guidance to them and making “contactless-paperless credit” available for the crops.
