The Union Cabinet has approved the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) as a centrally sponsored scheme to promote Natural Farming (NF) across India. The mission aims to encourage one crore farmers to adopt NF practices by the end of the 15th Finance Commission period.
With a total outlay of ₹2,481 crore, the scheme follows a Centre-State funding ratio of 90:10 for Hilly & and Eastern States and 60:40 for all other States. Since its approval on November 25, 2024, guidelines were circulated on December 26, 2024, and 33 States/UTs have had their Annual Action Plans (AAPs) approved. In FY 2024-25, ₹177.78 lakh has been released to various States/UTs under the mission.
Key developments under NMNF include:
- Training initiatives at the Centre of Natural Farming (CoNF).
- 70,021 Krishi Sakhis trained on Soil Health & Natural Farming.
- Farmer enrolments and establishment of NF Model Demonstration Farms across States/UTs.
The update was provided by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ramnath Thakur in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.