Comparative Economics of Zero Budget Natural Farming with Conventional Farming Systems in Northern Dry Zone (Zone-3) of Karnataka

The present study was initiated during 2019-20 to illustrate the comparison between zero budget natural farming and conventional farming systems in terms of the economics of selected major crops cultivated under ZBNF system in the Northern Dry Zone of Karnataka. In order to identify main differences between natural and conventional farming practices, descriptive statistics have been used to analyze the primary data collected from 80 farmers across the 8 districts of the northern dry zone of Karnataka. The study was planned to highlight the main characteristics of those two systems to address the differences in cost and returns. The results revealed that the total cost under ZBNF was observed to be lower than the conventional farming system. The average yield realized under ZBNF system was slightly lower than a conventional farming system in all the crops except foxtail millet. This is clearly indicated that the ZBNF system was performed well in millets cultivation under the rainfed situation. And around 92 percent of the farmers experienced that, the cost of cultivation under ZBNF was minimized. Further, the study highlighted a statistically significant difference between ZBNF and conventional yield levels, cost of cultivation, and income at multiple locations. According to the ’farmer’s opinion, most farmers opined that the pest and disease were unable to manage in ZBNF.

The zero budget natural farming recorded a significantly lower cost of cultivation than the conventional farming system, and millets cultivation is well responding under the ZBNF system.