1084 farmer switched over to natural farming in Kinnuar district

Natural and organic farming is picking up swiftly among the peasants of this hill state who are switching over to natural and organic farming to grow their produces , this is successstory of about 1084 farmers who belonged to tribal Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradash. 
 Deputy Director Agriculture Somraj told us that number of farmers were coming forward to learn about the Subhash Palekar technique of natural farming  as this ambitious scheme was launched by the state government to reduce the cost of productions and encourage the  natural farming practices based upon the local manure, organic fertilizers and pesticides.
Special arrangements and training programs are being made organized to aware farmers to adopt the natural farming. Presently 1084 farmers and fruit and apple growers have adopted natural farming in the district, whose number is increasing continuously.  
Jeet Negi of Moorang village of Pooh sub-division is one of the progressive farmers following this practice of natural farming in his orchards since last 4 years.  
Mr Jeet Ngi who adopted  this  practice in  2018,  says that he is Impressed after getting training and learning in the camp and now he fully moved towards natural farming.
The  farming could be run by a nominal amount of money and it is reaping the  benefits because the crop produced from natural farming is of high quality as well as provides the best price band to the farmers owing to organically produce.  
He converted his old orchard which had about 1500 apple trees to completely natural farming which has yielded positive outcome to him.  He says that initially he encounter some difficulty for a couple of years because initially he was using insecticidal fertilizers and chemical fertilizers in the orchards.. 
 Due to its closure, some diseases also occurred in the orchards and the crop was also reduced, but after two years, positive results of natural farming have come out, due to which now the crop is getting more than previously grown. Mr Jeet Negi said that he succeed to come out from the losses incurred as his organic produce are getting good prices in the market.
Jeet Negi says that he has now planted 2200 apple saplings on more than two bighas of land which is being prepared completely with natural fertilizers etc.  He said that he has set a target of planting about 10 thousand saplings which will be completely based on natural manure and spray etc.

He said that meanwhile, with the help of the department, he participated in an exhibition for crops based on natural farming products in Mumbai in which the natural products prepared by him like apple, rajmah, potato, black potato, peas etc. were widely appreciated by the people.  Loved it and got a very good price for it.  
He said that during this time he sold apples made by natural farming for about Rs 350 a kg and from there he also got a great market for his products.
 Today he and other members of his group are shipping their natural products to metros like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore and the demand is increasing every year due to the quality of the products.  
He said that today along with apples, Rajmah, potato, black potato, peas and cabbage are also being prepared through natural farming.  Apart from this, they are also preparing Dhingri Mushroom which is being prepared completely from naturally prepared fertilizers and pesticides.
 He said that he was also assisted with various schemes by the government from time to time.  Plastic drums and other materials were also provided to them by the department to prepare Jeevamrut and other insecticides.  He says that the youth should come forward to adopt natural farming because while the crop prepared by it is better in quality than other crops, the expenditure on it is also nominal and the government also spends on it.  Grants are also given.
 He believes that in future the demand for products made from natural farming will increase further, so that the youth will be financially stronger.
 Deputy Director Agriculture Somraj says that awareness camps are being organized by the department in village-village to encourage and make farmers and gardeners aware of natural farming and 1714 drums used for natural farming in the district, Gaushala construction by the department.  In addition to gratuity to 126 persons, 30 persons were provided gratuity for purchasing 18 indigenous cows and for preparing resource stock.