NITI Aayog team visits natural farming fields

Guntur: Expanding natural farming could significantly reduce the government’s expenditure on chemical inputs as there is no need of fertilisers or pesticides in the practice of natural farming, said Prof Dr Ramesh Chand, member (Agriculture) of NITI Aayog here on Friday while visiting natural farming fields across Andhra Pradesh along with seven other members.

Chemical-free natural farming products which are grown with Ghana, Drava and Beejamruthams can be promoted in the name of Amrutha Aahar. The team suggested that natural farming science could be included in the curriculum.

B Rajasekhar, Special Chief Secretary, T Vijay Kumar, executive vice-chairman of RySS, Joint Collector A Bhargav Tej and executive director of RySS I Samuel Anand Kumar accompanied the team.

During the field visits in Nuthakki village, the team spoke with A Grade banana farmer A Srinivasa Reddy, who cultivates banana in four acres following natural farming methods. He said he has adopted Pre-Monsoon Dry Sowing (PMDS) for different crops.

The team also interacted with Siva Rami Reddy, Sundar Rami Reddy and K Subbareddy. The team also visited Ravendrapadu village.

The NITI Aayog team includes Dr Sunil Kumar, Director of Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, Dr Praveen Kumar Singh, Commissioner (Agriculture), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Dr Neelam Patel, Programme Director of NITI Aayog, Dr R Sarada Jayalakshmi Devi, Vice-Chancellor, ANGRAU, Paremal Banafarr, Agriculture and allied sectors vertical.

RySS senior officials Dr DV Raidu, IAS (Retd), Dr M Maheswari, Dr KS Varaprasad, Dr Zakir Hussain, Gopichand, Chandra Sekhar, Ramachandram, district agriculture officer N Venkateswarlu, district project manager and APCNF Rajkumari also participated.