Subscribe
The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has come up with the guidelines for setting up of bio-input resource centres (BRC) under the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF).
Under the guidelines published on April 23, 2025, financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh will be provided as support to set up each centre. But experts and stakeholders have flagged that this amount may be inadequate in successfully setting up and running a BRC that can support transition for farmers to natural farming.
BRCs are cluster-level enterprises, meant to support local production, availability and supply of ready-to-use bio-inputs for natural farming to farmers who may not be able to produce them individually. Along with bio-inputs, it is also envisaged as a centre to disseminate knowledge and experience related to natural farming to farmers who face challenges while transitioning to natural / organic farming.
The initiative was first announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the budget speech for 2023-24, with a plan to set up 10,000 BRCs.
The union government launched NMNF on November 25, 2024 to promote natural farming through a dedicated initiative and reduce farmers’ dependence on chemical inputs across the country. However, farmers deal with various challenges like non-availability of quality inputs, lack of knowledge and a lack of market support to get fair and remunerative prices, while transitioning to natural farming.
The study, State of Biofertilizers and Organic Fertilizers in India by the Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment, highlighted the poor state of organic and bio-inputs in the country. The authors of the report underlined the need for bio-input resource centres to support farmers in upscaling organic / natural farming.
According to the guidelines, BRCs must have access to raw materials such as livestock, plant-based biomass, among others. They should also share knowledge with farmers on the usage of natural fatming bio-inputs, details of their dosage and application.
First and foremost, a BRC entrepreneur group / entity must be practising natural farming or have such members with prior experience of natural farming, the guidelines mandate. These centres should be using bio-inputs in their own farms.
In case there is no member is initially practising natural farming, the state natural farming cell, headed by the secretary in-charge of agriculture, shall identify a farmer entrepreneur who is willing to initiate and practice natural farming starting from the immediate crop season.
The bio-inputs should be prepared as per requirements of the local farmers, local land-use patterns, soil types and locally practiced crop systems.
The state natural farming cell and district-level monitoring committee must also ensure that the cost of bio-inputs sold at the BRC must be affordable for all types of farmers, including small and marginal farmers.
A financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh, in two tranches of Rs 50,000 each, will be provided as support to set up a BRC.
The guidelines also talked about exploring convergence with other schemes / programmes such as Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs, National Mission on Edible Oilseeds, among others for mobilising farmers and making them aware of the BRC.
“If a person who is setting up the centre has land and other kind of physical infrastructure with them and if it’s just about setting the centre and running it in terms of the production, then this Rs 1 lakh should be decent enough for a low-scale model. Otherwise, this amount is not sufficient because there are factors like land costing, other physical infrastructure like shed building which cannot be done within Rs 1 lakh,” said Manjula M, agricultural economist and faculty at Azim Premji University.
The guidelines clearly stated that the financial assistance does not include sheds, renting of premises or other such expenses. “The BRC entrepreneur should arrange for these,” as per the document.
The success of BRCs depend on a consistent end-to-end approach, said Manjula M. “In case of most of our micro-enterprises, despite being in existence for 10-15 years, only two or three units survive and others die a natural death. A consistent end-to-end support, at least in the initial years, for both backward and forward linkages, is required,” she said.