New Delhi, June 11 -- Recently, the Union cabinet approved the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) with a total budget outlay of Rs 24.81 billion. The NMNF scheme will be implemented in 15,000 clusters, covering 10 million farmers and 0.75 million hectares of land. It is important to note that transitioning farmers from chemical to natural farming requires extensive capacity building.

The Government of India has a vast extension infrastructure through the National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES), supported by ICAR, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), and the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) to assist farmers.

However, the dominance of smallholder farmers makes it difficult for the extension system ...