Vishaal Kisan Sammelan - workshop

Why is in news? NMCG and Sahakar Bharati organise ‘Vishaal Kisan Sammelan’ with over 200 farmers in Sonipat

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Sahakar Bharati organised ‘Vishaal Kisan Sammelan’ workshop on 4th October 2022 in Bayanpur village, Sonipat, Haryana as part of the targeted campaign under Namami Gange Programme and Arth Ganga to promote Natural Farming amongst the farmers in the Ganga Basin.

More than 200 farmers took part in the workshop and also a farm visit to Gurukul Farms in Kurukshetra was also organised where NMCG officials learned about the various technologies being used for Natural Farming.

This is the third interaction with farmers in the Ganga Basin in the past few weeks including workshops in Shirdi, Maharashtra and Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh on 19th August and 5th September 2022 respectively.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between NMCG and Sahakar Bharation 16th August 2022 in the presence of the Hon. Union Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to achieve the vision of a sustainable and viable economic development by public participation, creation and strengthening of local cooperatives towards realizing the mandate of Arth Ganga, that aims to link people with the river through a “bridge of economics”.

Some of the major objectives the MoU envisages include identification of 75 villages in five states on the main stem to be designated as ‘Sahakar Ganga Grams’, promote natural farming among the farmers, FPOs and Cooperatives in States along Ganga and generate ‘More net-Income Per Drop’, facilitate marketing of natural farming/organic produce under brand Ganga through creation of market linkages, promote people-river connect through economic bridge etc.

Some novel initiatives undertaken by National Water Mission, a meeting with 1500 farmers was organised in Kurukshetra as part of the ‘Sahi Fasal’ initiative that aimed to nudge farmers to shift to maize cultivation from paddy for better profit and less water usage.

Another initiative was ‘Catch the Rain: Where it Falls, When it Falls’ launched by the Hon. Prime Minister on the occasion of World Water Day on 22nd March 2021 emphasizing on the harvesting of rainwater at the very place where it falls. Also there is an urgent need to shift to rainwater harvesting from conventional approach of building dams is now being felt to ensure a water-secured future for our future generations.

Natural Farming:

Natural Farming is a chemical-free alias traditional farming method. It is considered as agroecology based diversified farming system which integrates crops, trees and livestock with functional biodiversity.

Natural farming is related to fertility farming, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, agroecology, agroforestry, ecoagriculture and permaculture, but should be distinguished from biodynamic agriculture.