NMCG and Sahakar Bharati organise workshop on Natural Farming for over 400 farmers in Bulandshahr
NMCG & Sahakar Bharti to set
up at least 75 Ganga Sahakar Grams in the Ganga Basin to promote Natural
Farming under ‘Arth Ganga’
Concept of Ganga Sahakar Gram will go a long way in serving the objective of Sustainable
Agriculture: DG, NMCG
National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Sahakar Bharati organised a
‘Vishaal Kisan Sammelan’ workshop today for more than 400 farmers at Mubarikpur
Bangar village in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh. The workshop was part
of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NMCG and Sahakar Bharti to set
up at least 75 Ganga Sahakar Grams in the Ganga basin to promote natural
farming and other interventions under Arth Ganga. The
workshop/meeting was aimed at bringing together all Arth Ganga related
initiatives to ensure convergence of Jalaj, natural farming, Ghat pe Haat,
sludge-to-fertilizer, marketing of agricultural/horticulture produce, tourism
etc.
Apart from more than 400 farmers from Uttar Pradesh, the event saw
participation from district-level officials, State Mission for Clean Ganga,
Uttar Pradesh, Wildlife Institute of India, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Ganga
Vichar Manch and other volunteers. A field tour to the farms of farmer Upendra
Nagar was also organised during which technicalities of natural farming was
shown to the participating farmers and officials. Recently, from 18th to 22nd August 2022, NMCG
facilitated an exposure visit of about 30 farmers from the Ganga Basin to the
Subhash Palekar Natural Farming (SPNF) training-cum-workshop camp being
organised in Shirdi, Maharashtra.
Addressing the gathering, Director General, G Asok Kumar said that the
association between NMCG and Sahakar Bharati is enabling a positive environment
in the field of sustainable agriculture and zero budget natural farming. The
collaboration focuses on the novel initiative of setting up Ganga Sahakar Grams
in Ganga basin and no stone will be left unturned to make it into a successful
model and replicate in other villages. “This initiative focuses on employment
generation through natural farming and will go a long way to serve the twin
objectives of sustainable agricultural development and mitigating the effects
of climate change,” Kumar said, adding, “Many more of such workshops/meetings
will be organised by NMCG in near future.”
G Asok Kumar also gave an overview of the Arth Ganga concept and said
that these initiatives are being taken under Arth Ganga campaign. He touched
upon the significant components of Arth Ganga including Zero Budget Natural
Farming, generating “more net income, per drop”, ‘Gobar Dhan’ for farmers,
monetization and reuse of Sludge & Wastewater, livelihood generation
opportunities such as Jalaj, ‘Ghat Mein Haat’, promotion of local products, Ayurveda,
medicinal plants, capacity building of volunteers like Ganga Praharis, public
participation to ensure increased synergies between stakeholders etc. He also
talked about Cultural Heritage & Tourism that looks to introduce boat
tourism through community jettis, promotion of yoga, adventure tourism etc.
DN Thakur, National President, Sahakar Bharati in his inaugural address
said that Sahakar Ganga Grams is an all-encompassing programme that trains
farmers in not only readying their farms but also crop diversification, how to
keep crops safe, proper marketing, technical capacity building, and improve the
livelihood standards of farmers.
The MoU between NMCG and
Sahakar Bharti was signed in the presence of the Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra
Singh Shekhawat on 16th August, 2022 on the occasion of ‘Yamuna Par Azadi ka Amrit
Mahotsav’. The MoU envisages to achieve the vision of a sustainable and
viable economic development by public participation and creation and
strengthening of local cooperatives directing their cooperation towards
realizing the mandate of Arth Ganga. Some of the major objectives the MoU
include setting up pf 75 Sahakar Ganga Grams in five states on the main stem,
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.