Srinagar, Aug. 10 -- Every morning, Ghulam Ahmad Bhat heads to his farms with cow dung slurry, mulch, and homemade concoctions of fermented plant extracts.

This has been a routine for Bhat since he switched from conventional to organic farming a few years ago. Now, he's embracing something even purer -natural farming. "I no longer depend on anything from the market. Everything I need is here - in my cowshed, in the soil, in nature itself," he said.

Bhat is one of19,125 farmers across Jammu and Kashmirwho have been enrolled under theNational Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF)- a central initiative that is fast becoming the new face of sustainable agriculture in the country.

According to official data,17,243 soil sampleshave been collecte...