NIPHM, SERP join hands to promote natural farming in Telangana

Hyderabad: The National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM) here and the Telangana government’s Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), have joined hands to accelerate natural farming in the state.

NIPHM has recently trained 56 district-level officials and 318 women entrepreneurs to establish Bio-Input Resource Centres (BRCs) to promote natural farming across Telangana.

SERP took the initiative in collaboration with the Agriculture department to establish 326 Bio-Input Resource Centres (BRCs) across the state under the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF), an official release said on Monday.

SERP identified and mobilised women participants from different districts for training at NIPHM. The trained women entrepreneurs were provided with essential equipment and facilities required to establish the BRCs at the village level.

BRC is a center to disseminate knowledge and experience related to the application of natural farming bio-inputs to local farmers.

Under the guidance of Tara Satyavathi, Director General, NIPHM, the programmes were conducted to enable women farmers to adopt natural farming aimed at sustaining diversified crop cultivation under low rainfall conditions, the release said.

O P Sharma, Director, PHM, said the trained women shall prepare eco-friendly inputs such as Jeevamrut, Beejamrut, Dashparni Ark and Aganastra for use in their own fields as well as those of other farmers in the clusters.

Using these preparations, the application of costly chemical pesticides for pest control can be avoided. Through these centres, the trained women shall also disseminate low-cost farming techniques to other rural women while providing locally prepared bio-inputs for improving soil and plant health.

Divya Devarajan, Chief Executive Officer, SERP, and Rajitha, Chief Operating Officer, SERP, played a key role in formulating the training plan, mobilising participants and providing funding to NIPHM for conducting the capacity-building programmes, the release added.