The government also announced establishment of second National Gene Bank at ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi
New Delhi, NFAPost: Since the approval of the scheme in November 2024, the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) has released ₹177.78 lakhs to various States/UTs as per approved AAPs in the Financial Year 2024-25, said Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ramnath Thakur.
“The Union Cabinet has approved the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) on 25th November 2024 as a centrally sponsored scheme to encourage 1 crore farmers to adopt Natural Farming (NF) across the country till the 15th Finance Commission period,” said Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ramnath Thakur.
The scheme has a total outlay of ₹2481.00 crore (in Centre: State share – 90:10 for Hilly & North Eastern States and 60:40 for all other States). The scheme guidelines were circulated on 26th December 2024 and Annual Action Plan (AAP) of 33 States/ Union Territories (UT) have been approved till date.
Under the NMNF scheme, training at Centers’ of Natural Farming (CoNF) have been initiated across States/UTs. Additionally, 70,021 Krishi Sakhis have already been trained on Soil Health & NF.
All other activities envisaged in NMNF have been started and are at different stages of implementation in States/UTs, including enrollment of farmers and development of NF Model Demonstration Farms.
National Gene Bank
The government also announced the establishment of the second National Gene Bank at ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, to conserve 10 lakh crop germplasm for future food and nutritional security. This announcement is one of the initiatives under the theme “Investing in innovations” of Union Budget 2025-26.
The second National Gene Bank (NGB) is the second largest Gene Bank globally with 4,71,561 accessions of 2157 species. The plant genetic resources conserved in the NGB are available for use by both public and private sector agencies involved in crop improvement and management of genetic resources in the country.
Establishment of the Second Gene Bank with state-of-art infrastructure with the capacity of conserving 10 lakh germplasm is aimed at strengthening India’s position as a leader in global biodiversity conservation.
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