Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeals to farmers to adopt natural farming

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (December 23) said that to rejuvenate the mother earth and to secure the future of the coming generations, we must once again turn to natural farming. 

PM Modi was speaking during a political rally in one of the most popular cities in India's northern state Uttar Pradesh - Varanasi, from where he appealed to farmers to adopt natural farming and also called for strengthening the dairy sector.

"This method will make farming 'atmanirbhar' [self-dependent]. Those working in startups should also explore possibilities for this," said PM Modi, who was in Varanasi to inaugurate a dairy named Banas Dairy Kashi Sankul at Karkhiyaon. 

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"We need to strengthen the dairy sector. The Banas Kashi Sankul will benefit dairy farmers from several adjoining districts. The dairy plant will also have a bio-gas plant that will take care of its power needs. The dairy farmers will now be able to sell cow dung for the bio-gas plant at a good price," he added.

The Indian Prime Minister also said that milk committees and collection centres would be set up and certification of purity would also be done. 

Earlier, the Prime Minister launched a portal and a logo dedicated to the Conformity Assessment Scheme of milk products, developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with the help of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). 

The unified logo, featuring both the BIS logo and the NDDB quality mark, will simplify the certification process for the dairy sector and reassure the public about dairy product quality. 

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(With inputs from agencies)