New Delhi, May 4 -- The Centre is considering bringing 3.25 million hectares under chemical-free natural farming by FY31, scaling up efforts to promote sustainable agriculture and improve farm incomes, two government officials said.

The department of expenditure, under the finance ministry, in coordination with the agriculture ministry, is drafting a proposal to create 65,000 clusters of 50 hectares each under the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF), the officials said.

The targeted 3.25 million hectares would account for about 1.8% of India's total agricultural land of 180.12 million hectares. At present, around 880,000 hectares are estimated to be under natural farming, indicating a significant scale-up from current levels.

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