How much is zero?

Paddy farmers of Andhra Pradesh are saving water, energy and money by adopting Zero Budget Natural Farming

- N S SURESH and ARJUN SHANKER

AGRICULTURE IS both the cause and victim of water scarcity. Excessive use of water threatens the sustainability of livelihoods dependent on water and agriculture, says the Food and Agriculture Organization. In India, the Green Revolution had a phenomenal impact on India’s food production, but it also rendered the land infertile, led to extensive water consumption and aggravated groundwater loss. As per the Central Water Commission, the country’s agriculture sector already consumes over 83 per cent of the available water resources. And the demand will grow.

In the recent past, there has been a global demand to shift to sustainable farming systems, such as Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF). India, too, introduced ZBNF in its Union Budget 2019-20. As the name suggests, it is the adaptation of an ancient practice which reduces farmers’ direct cost and encourages them to use natural inputs, such as cow dung and cow urine. The inputs help manage soil nutrition, fertility, pests and seeds. The technology requires less tilling and completely rejects the use of inorganic fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. It is also water-efficient. Of late, all these benefits have been popularised, but in 2019 a group of researchers tried to quantify it.