Project Background
This case study highlights the intellectual and policy contribution of Dr Nisha Pandey to the national discourse on Natural Farming and Zero Budget Natural Farming. Her work, presented in the volume “Reimagining Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati”, positions natural farming as a civilisational, ecological and spiritual framework for sustainable development, rooted in Indian knowledge systems and Deep Ecology.
Objective
To document how Natural Farming can restore soil health, strengthen climate resilience and support farmer livelihoods, while providing a governance model for scaling ecological agriculture at the state and national levels.
Approach
Dr Pandey’s work integrates scriptural analysis, empirical research, state and national case studies and institutional experiences from Gujarat. It examines farmer training, SHG based bio input enterprises, dairy convergence, tribal and rural ecosystem models and institutionalisation through state missions.
Key Insights
- Natural farming improves soil health, reduces chemical dependency and lowers input costs for farmers.
- It enhances farmer income, biodiversity and climate resilience across varied agro ecological zones.
- Gujarat’s model demonstrates scalable institutionalisation through training systems, cow based inputs, women’s participation and rural livelihood integration.
- Natural Farming aligns strongly with Atmanirbhar Krishi, SDGs, NMNF and the national vision for Viksit Bharat 2047.
Policy Learning
As former Director of GIDR, Dr Pandey positioned Natural Farming within a research practice policy ecosystem. Her work supports governance reforms championed by the Hon Governor of Gujarat and provides economic and institutional justification for a state supported Natural Farming mission. The policy recommendations emphasise women led SHG enterprises, local resource use, ecological monitoring and decentralised farmer autonomy.