Bengaluru: In response to the urgent need for a nationwide solution-based discussion on the agrarian crisis in the country with key stakeholders, this May, Bengaluru will play host to the first ever national level conference on Natural Farming. Art of Living’s Natural Farming Summit 1.0, set to take place at the Art of Living International Center from May 9th-10th, will bring together advocacy groups, field experts, bureaucrats, farmers and educators to deliberate on the theme of “innovative approach to world nutrition and food security.”
Addressing the conference will be the Union Minister of Agriculture, Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Founder of the Art of Living, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder and CEO of Javara Indigenous, Ibu Helianti Hilman, international expert on cow breeding, Gopalbhai Sutharia amongst other pioneers in the field of agriculture. Delegates will be joining in from institutes like ICAR, KVKs, Agricultural boards and ministries across the country and also from South Africa, Ukraine and Sri Lanka.
Natural Farming Summit 1.0, conducted by the Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Trust (SSIAST) under the aegis of the Art of Living, brings to the forefront natural farming and its role in improving nutritional, food and livelihood security. With a vision to convert all of India’s farmland into natural farms by 2025, 2 million farmers across the country have already been trained by SSIAST, who have amassed huge profits even in drought-hit districts with natural farming methods.
“By now we have realized that chemical farming is not just unsustainable, output decreases every year, the ecosystem is polluted and the produce is not healthy to consume. With the world population being projected at 12 billion by 2050, natural farming is the only way to ensure sustainability in agriculture and food security for the population that’s growing geometrically,” says Ramakrishna Reddy, the man behind the summit, who believes that the conference is all the more relevant now in the context of the nation-wide agrarian crisis.
The summit will be a knowledge sharing and networking platform, highlighting advancements in the natural farming movement and promoting innovations, collaboration and a better governance framework. Highly accomplished scientists, practitioners and working groups will hold technical sessions for in-depth discussions on the road ahead in making Natural Farming not just viable but profitable with the use of technology and tested business models. The Summit will look for urgent solutions to financial and operational problems both manmade and natural that face Indian agriculture today along with celebrating some of the success stories.
Here are the Summit Highlights:
- It is the 1st Annual Summit and an emerging sustainable platform for Advocacy, Governance and Policy related to chemical-free farming.
- It is envisioned with an objective to bring together key stakeholders in the agriculture sector which includes government representatives, agricultural organizations and educators in the national and global agriculture sectors to promote natural farming.
- It not only provides an opportunity to network in real-time with people practicing Natural Farming, Industry, Bureaucracy and Academicians but also have a say in the key policy decisions that will happen during the course of the conference.
- It will help you to become familiar with the technology of Natural Farming, which while being chemically free is different from Organic Farming.
