Climate Resilient Zero-Budget Natural Farming in Andhra Pradesh

Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) has taken up the innovative climate change resilient, zero budget natural farming (ZBNF) in 2015 for 500,000 farmers to ensure farmers’ welfare, consumer welfare and most importantly, food security for present and future generations. Currently, farmers are in deep distress on account of poor soils, ever increasing cultivation costs and increasing risks. Climate change is further exacerbating risks. ZBNF, pioneered by Subhash Palekar, enables farmers to improve soil fertility, reduce costs and risks drastically, reduce irrigation requirement, and increases yields. ZBNF farmers provide consumers with more food. The food is chemical-free and more nutritious. ZBNF helps secure future food security through continuously increasing soil organic matter, water-holding capacity, and biodiversity in Nature. At present, 160,000 ZBNF farmers are on board in Andhra Pradesh. The key innovation propelling the ZBNF to scale up exponentially is that the ZBNF best-practitioner farmers are playing the central role in taking the program to other farmers. Their success in knowledge dissemination is phenomenal. With their leadership, the Vision is to convert all 6 million farmers in Andhra Pradesh into ZBNF farmers by 2024. ZBNF is the future of farming, rooted in Indian tradition.