New Delhi, May 5 -- The Centre is considering bringing 3.25 million hectares under chemical-free natural farming by FY31, scaling up efforts to promote sustainable agriculture and improve farm incomes, two government officials said. The department of expenditure, under the finance ministry, in coordination with the agriculture ministry, is drafting a proposal to create 65,000 clusters of 50 hectares each under the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF), the officials said. The targeted 3.25 million hectares would account for about 1.8% of India's total agricultural land of 180.12 million hectares. At present, around 880,000 hectares are estimated to be under natural farming, indicating a significant scale-up from current levels. For FY27, the department has planned an outlay of Rs.750 crore to bring an additional 650,000 hectares under natural farming, said the first official on condition of anonymity. The second official said FY27 targets are indicative, as the full NMNF outlay for FY27-FY31 is yet to be approved. The year's targets include setting up 5,000 bio-input resource centres (BRCs), training 26,000 community resource persons (CRPs), and establishing 2,858 demonstration farms to drive adoption, the officials said. BRCs are local facilities that produce and supply natural farming inputs such as bio-fertilisers, bio-pesticides, compost and microbial solutions. The move comes as the government steps up efforts to shift towards low-input, sustainable agriculture practices, while also building institutional capacity and input supply chains to support large-scale adoption of natural farming. Experts said natural farming will help protect farmers' incomes, as for most Indian farmers, the real income problem is not the price at the mandi but the costs incurred before the crop even reaches there. "Input costs, including chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, have steadily eroded margins over decades," said Ashwin Bhadri, founder & CEO of Equinox Labs, a food, water, and air testing and auditing laboratory. "Natural farming inputs like jeevamrit and beejamrit cost almost nothing to prepare. When cultivation costs fall, net income is protected even without a shift in market prices." Certified natural produce can fetch 20-40% higher prices in organized retail and more in export markets, though yields may fall 15-30% during transition, Bhadri said, adding that the limited scale of rollout reduces food security risks. Queries emailed to the spokespersons of the ministries of finance and agriculture last week remained unanswered till press time. Beyond cost reduction, the programme aims to promote integrated crop-livestock systems (preferably with indigenous cattle) and strengthen agro-ecological research and extension through Indian Council of Agricultural Research institutions (ICAR), Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs) and agricultural universities. The NMNF, announced in the Union budget 2023-24, seeks to promote chemical-free agriculture and restore soil health degraded by heavy fertiliser and pesticide use. However, some experts say scaling will require institutional overhaul and greater emphasis on intensive agriculture. "To promote natural farming, the government needs to overhaul the entire agricultural institutional framework, bringing farmers, activists, and scientists into the fold while cutting through bureaucratic red tape," said Umendra Dutt, executive director of the Kheti Virasat Mission, a Punjab-based non-profit organization engaged in promoting natural and organic farming across India....