ZBNF vs Organic Farming Vs Conventional Farming

ZBNF vs Organic Farming Vs Conventional Farming
 

News: Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) in Andhra Pradesh has led to significantly higher crop yield compared to organic or conventional (synthetic fertilisers and pesticides) farming, a new study of the state’s natural farming programme has found.
 

Background:
 The southern state has been pushing 100 per cent chemical-free agriculture under the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme it launched in 2016.
 In the last six years, it has worked with 0.63 million farmers out of a total estimated six million farmers in the state, on natural farming.
 

Key Findings:
 Researchers from the University of Reading, the United Kingdom and Rythu Sadikara Samstha, a non-profit set up by the government in 2014 observed that when compared to the conventional treatment, yields were maintained in the case of organic farming and increased in ZBNF.
 Apart from the higher yield, nutrient availability was also unaffected in ZBNF. This is a significant finding as there have been arguments that conventional treatment, which uses synthetic fertilisers, increases extractable nutrient concentrations compared to organic and ZBNF treatments.
 However, the efficacy of the ZBNF treatment was context specific and varied according to district and the crop in question. The ZBNF yield benefit is likely attributed to mulching, generating a cooler soil, with a higher moisture content and a larger earthworm population.
 It has been estimated earlier that if ZBNF covered 25 per cent of the total crop area in Andhra Pradesh, $70 million would be saved in fertiliser subsidies every year.