NATURAL STATE OF AFFAIRS
Andhra Pradesh has been a frontrunner in implementing Natural Farming (NF) on a mass scale. The state government initiated the Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNM) initiative in 2016. “The Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) initiative [ZBNM has since been renamed]has got 630,000 farmers promoting NF, making it the largest such programme in the world,” claims
T. Vijay Kumar, executive vice-chairperson of Rythu Sadhikara Samastha (RySS). It has identified champion NF farmers as community resource persons (CRPs) to act as mentors to the new converts.
NF follows traditional organic farming practices based on local resources, botanical extracts (such as neem for pest control) and indigenous seeds. “RySS has used farmer-to-farmer experiential knowledge as a means to empower 8,000 CRPs across the state,” says Vijay Kumar. Each CRP is expected to work with 100 farmers.
In 2021-22, the APCNF programme had some 288,000 ha. under cultivation. In addition, 190,000 poor households have raised NF-based kitchen gardens in their homes. In 2022-23, the NF effort is expected to cover 1.06 million farmers who will be cultivating 458,000 hectares in the state.
In 2020, the state took a Rs 783 crore (90 million euros) soft loan from KfW Bank, Germany, to set up an exclusive NF department for the project. Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives also supports the NF programme with a Rs 100 crore grant for technical backstopping.
A study by the Institute for Development Studies, AP, says NF has reduced the costs (though yields remain the same) of farmers. It also says practitioners had a higher net income of Rs 25,000 per ha. compared to farmers relying on conventional agriculture. Andhra has emerged as a resource centre and is supporting states like Rajasthan, Bihar, Odisha, Meghalaya and Kerala on NF practices too.