Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)
India's most impactful indigenous farming movement — eliminating all purchased inputs through on-farm biology and returning farmers to financial independence.
— Definition
Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is an agricultural system developed by Subhash Palekar in Maharashtra that uses no purchased external inputs — no chemical fertilisers, pesticides, or hybrid seeds — achieving productivity through on-farm biological processes.
— In Detail
ZBNF's four elements: (1) Beejamrut — seed treatment with cow dung and urine mixture to protect against soil-borne pathogens; (2) Jeevamrut — fermented cow dung (from native Bos indicus breeds), cow urine, jaggery, and flour — applied to soil to boost fungal and bacterial populations (billions of organisms per litre) that mobilise existing soil nutrients; (3) Mulching — keeping soil covered with crop residues to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and feed soil biology; (4) Waaphasa — soil aeration by maintaining the optimal soil pore space ratio of air and water. The 'zero budget' refers to the fact that farm income from one crop is used to fund the next — eliminating the debt cycle that drives farmer suicides in India. ZBNF has been adopted by the Andhra Pradesh government as state policy (RySS — Rythu Sadhikara Samstha), covering 700,000 farmers across 6 million acres — the world's largest natural farming programme.
— Why It Matters
India's Green Revolution created a debt trap: farmers who adopted chemical inputs need to buy them every season. ZBNF severs this dependency. The Andhra Pradesh programme has shown yield parity with conventional farming while reducing costs by 30–50%. The model directly addresses India's farmer suicide crisis, which is primarily debt-driven.
— Related Terms
— See in Field Guide
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