Centre for Science and Environment:

National conclave on food, March 15th, 2019

Andhra Pradesh Zero Budget Natural Farming:

Mainstreaming natural farming at State level : All 60L farmers, 80L hectares,
12924 Gram Panchayats

T. Vijay Kumar
Advisor, (Agriculture and Coop), and,
Vice Chairman, Rythu sadhikara samstha
Govt of A.P
 Andhra Pradesh
India’s Leading Agrarian State

Contributes 34% to Diversified cropping

state GSDP systems

62% of population
employed in 2nd longest coastline
agriculture & related – 974 km
activities

India’s largest
producer of fruits,
Rice Bowl of India eggs & aquaculture
products

80 Lakh ha Horticulture
cropped area 17 Lakh ha
 Agriculture and Food Crisis Who are at Risk?
- Farmers
High - Citizens
Production and
- Planet Earth
Costs Marketing Risks

Food Rural – Urban

Insecurity distress Migration

Ecosystem Worsening
Degradation Climate crisis

Current Agriculture system is contributing to 24% of

the Green house gases
 Z.B.N.F is a transformational technology

Farmers’ Freedom
welfare Youth welfare Environment
from hunger
•Reduced costs and •More food, safe food •Reverse migration to •Enhanced soil health,
risks, increased yields, and nutritious food villages water conservation,
regular income, climate
regenerated coastal
change resilience
ecosystem, biodiversity.

Safeguarding our collective future

Z.B.N.F is a unique contribution of Padma Shri Dr. Subhash Palekar to the farmers of
our country and to all the citizens ( as consumers)

January 2016, 8-days: 5000 farmers

September 2016, 4-days: 5000 farmers
December 2017, 9-days: 8000 farmers
December 2018, 9-days: 9000 farmers
Four Wheels of ZBNF
Beejamrutham Jeevamrutham Achhadana Waaphasa Higher Yields, , diverse crops,
Lower Costs

Enhanced Soil Fertility, soil

porosity, water infiltration
Results
Soil Carbon enhancement

Reduce water requirement for

crops, harnessing atmospheric
Microbial seed coating Enhance soil Ground to be kept Fast buildup of soil water
through cow urine and microbiome through covered with crops and humus through ZBNF
dung -based an ‘inoculum’ of cow crop residues as leading to soil
formulations dung, cow urine and mulching aeration and water Resilience to Climate Shocks
other ingredients vapor harnessing
 40% of Plant Sugars stored
in Above Ground Biomass

30% of Sugars stored in Roots

30% of Sugars moves into

the Soil as Exudates,
feeding vast microbial
population that makes
plant healthy

Image courtesy: Natural Resources SA Murray-Darling Basin YouTube channel

ZBNF – a paradigm shift

Other critical principles and practices in Z.B.N.F

• Use of ‘indigenous’ cow – for cowdung and urine. One cow

is enough for cultivation of 30 acres

• Botanical extracts – for pest management

• Minimal tillage – ground becomes soft and porous with

Z.B.N.F practices

• All inputs to be made within the village – nothing should be

purchased from outside
AP ZBNF Programme at a glance

Total area in implementation: 5.04 lakh acres

Funding required: 1250 cr.

Current funding:
RKVY and PKVY schemes of Ministry of
Agriculture

Grant support of Rs.100 crores by A.P.P.I

Plan for 2019 – 20: 7.5 Lakh farmers
 ZBNF IMPACTS
CCE Results:
Major Crops - Kharif 2018

Yield Non
Irrigated/ Yield ZBNF
Crop ZBNF in % Change
Rainfed in kgs/ha
kgs/ha

Paddy Irrigated 5643 4932 14%

Groundnut Rainfed 2109 1573 34%
Cotton Rainfed 995 906 10%
Maize Irrigated 5962 4929 21%
Ragi Rainfed 2710 2091 34%
Sugarcane
(Tonnes) Irrigated 147 97 51%
 Kharif 2018 CCEs: Yields and Net Incomes
%Increase
in ZBNF
Net Income Net Income %increase
Crop I/RF Net Income
ZBNF Non-ZBNF in yields
Over non-
ZBNF
Paddy Irrigated 59448 39457 14% 51%
Groundnut Rainfed 61077 33437 34% 83%
Cotton Rainfed 39239 13222 10% 197%
Maize Irrigated 26005 17844 21% 46%
Ragi Rainfed 59200 26294 34% 125%
Sugarcane Irrigated 302948 180615 51% 68%
Best Cases in 2018
Crop ZBNF Yield Non-ZBNF Yield Percentage Notes
(Kgs/acre) (Kgs/acre) Change
SRI Paddy 2350 1550 52 % Farmer: Paradani Jogi Raju (farmer), G.
Madugula mandal, Vishakapatanam

Coffee 103 67 54 % Farmer in D Gonduru, Kadagaputu,

Vishakapatanam
Guli Ragi 1250 450 178 % Farmer: Trimurthulu, Ananthagiri
Mandal, Vishakapatanam
SRI Ragi 1320 450 193 % Farmer: K Pandanna, Paderu,
Vishakapatanam
Sama 717 350 104 % Farmer: P Sonnu, Araku,
Vishakapatanam
Cotton 557 360 54 % Farmer: K Ganapathi, Duddukhallu,
Vizianagaram
Cashew 900 600 50 % Farmer: K Santa Kumari, Rampachodavaram,
East Godavari
Drought resilience through ZBNF
Pre monsoon dry sowing (Drought Resilience)
ZBNF IMPACTS
Drought resilience through ZBNF
Pre monsoon dry sowing (Drought Resilience)
Growth
timeline of the
pre monsoon
Navdhanya
over the
months
Premonsoon dry sowing crops

Bajra
ZBNF IMPACTS
Resilience to cyclones in 2018
Bio-diversity
 Case of Pattabhi Rami Reddi
Kur
District – Kurnool || Land – 4 acres (Irrigated) || Crops – Paddy, Redgram

Conventional Farming ZBNF Farming

Land under cultivation- 2 acres Land under cultivation- 2 acres

Cost of Cultivation- Rs. 20,000 Cost of Cultivation- Rs. 8,800

Selling Price- Rs. 1500/ Bag Selling Price- Rs. 2200/ Bag

Produce - 30 bags per acre

Produce - 22 bags per acre
Net Income - Rs. 1,23,200
Net Income - Rs.46,000 ( 2.7 times higher )

“I am very happy with the grain weight,

next year I am going to transfer my whole land to ZBNF”
 ZBNF Benefits
Food, Nutrition and Health Security

Employment
Rs. 13 worth
direct benefits
Soil Health and Water Security
Re. 1
investment  Cost Reduction
 Risk reduction Coastal Ecosystem Regeneration
 Higher Yields
 Better Prices
Climate Resilience

Biodiversity
It takes Rs.27,000, over a
five-year period for a farmer
household to adopt Z.B.N.F
and cover their entire farm Ecosystem & Health
( 1 ha/family) Benefits to citizens
 However Organic farming is not scaling up
India, 0.6%
0.83M out of 137M farmers

World, 0.5% *Source: IFOAM, FAO

Data as at 2016
2.7M out of 570M farmers

Asia, 0.3%
1.08M out of 570M farmers

Europe, 0.9%
0.37M of 40M farmers

0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% 0.7% 0.8% 0.9% 1.0%

Even after two decades, a negligible proportion of farmers are practicing it .

 OBSTACLES TO SCALING UP
Changing the ‘ CHEMICAL ADDICTION’ of the last 60 years - FARMERS,
SCIENTISTS, AGRI DEPT

Tackling VESTED INTERESTS

Taking it to the last mile

Handholding each farmer to make a permanent transition in the

context of broken agri extension system

Are the costs affordable ? Gestation period ?

How to make it Self sustaining, long-lasting

APZBNF - overcoming critical obstacles to scaling

AP ZBNF Model

Farmers’ Coverage
•2016-18 •2024
•8% enrolled •100%

At least 5 years handholding to each farmer

 Pillars of APZBNF Model

Commitment Knowledge Extension Ownership

State Subhash Champion Women
Government Palekar Farmers SHGs

ICT for Knowledge, Tracking, Traceability Collective Action for Inputs, Models, Marketing
Saturation: Farmers » Farms » Practices
AP Programme implementation : structure
Dedicated entity for implementation – the Rythu sadhikara
samstha
• Agriculture Department taking up implementation at state and district level
• Technical support grants from APPI
Robust State and District Teams
• Blend of Agri dept officials, development professionals (as consultants), best practitioners
(as SRPs), Thematic Leads across various themes and Young Professionals,
• Complemented by Community cadres in managerial positions - District and divisional leads
– technical and institution building
• Ownership of Agriculture dept functionaries
NFF Strategy
• Young Agri Graduates, through campus recruitment, as Farmers, Trainers, Researchers and
Integrators
• 284 positioned in various villages (@ 1 per cluster )
25
 Process: longterm handholding support to each farmer
Covering all farmers and all cultivable area in a village in 5 years

Each farmer takes 3 years to ZBNF

cover the entire holding. Adoption rate

Year 3: full area

100%
Year 2

Year In 5 years,
1 >80% a village
becomes a
farmers ‘BIO-
Area saturation in 3 years
50% VILLAGE’
farmers

15%
farmers

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 5 26

 AP ZBNF Model

Champion
Commitment of Principles by Extension by Ownership of
State Government Subhash Palekar Champion Women SHGs
Farmers

Farmers ICT for Knowledge, Tracking, Traceability Collective Action for Inputs, Models, Marketing
Saturation: Farmers » Farms » Practices

5,900 Community Resource Persons

@ 1 per 100 famers

284 Young Agriculture Graduates

as Natural Farming Fellows

Inspiration

Knowledge
Transfer

Handholding

Video
Dissemination

Farmer Field
Schools
Farmer to farmer knowledge dissemination
CRP Strategy : 5000 strong

CRP: Important Pillar of AP Model

• Best practicing farmers
• Identified (through rigorous verification process), trained and deployed as Community Resource Persons
• Farmer-to-farmer dissemination, handholding support to farmers

Building Capacities of CRPs

• Multiple rounds of training at district and state level in three spells (pre kharif,, kharif and rabi) for 15 days
• Additionally, trained by Sr CRPs for 2-3 days every month
• Apprenticeship with Sr CRP for six months

CRPs activities
• Farming Plans (in a campaign mode and in collaboration with Women SHGs)
• Weekly Farmer Field Schools
• Human mediated video disseminations

28
 Social capital of Women – mobilization of women in A.P
A Programme since 1995
Average Number per Institutions Total Numbers
No of SHGs Credit
Facilitated:
45 – 55 ZS Hundreds of
MMS Zilla Samakhyas
332,594
13
thousands of
women leaders,
and community
35 – 45
Credit Amount
MMS Mahila Mandal professionals (
Facilitated Dec’ VOs
18-19: Samakhyas men and
Rs.10,750 cr - 662
women) in
10 - 20 Village Organisations: various
SHGS VO
27,771 disciplines
-
Total No of
Number of SHGs: Members
8 – 12
Members SHGs SHGs SHGs SHGs SHGs SHGs
7,37,341 7,514,341
Women in Natural Farming: Our biggest Strength Commitment of
State Government
AP ZBNF Model

Principles by
Subhash Palekar
Extension by
Champion
Farmers
Ownership of
Women SHGs

ICT for Knowledge, Tracking, Traceability Collective Action for Inputs, Models, Marketing
Saturation: Farmers » Farms » Practices

Programme
Management

Collective
Action

106,991 women SHGs and their 4,825 Federations are in charge Peer Learning

Farming Plans

Verification
 Knowledge + Technology + Community
in harmony with Nature

eTracking eDatabase
• Farms • Farmers
• Farmers • Produce
Knowledge • Practices, • Consumers Traceability
Transfer Parameters
 APZBNF Scaling-up Plan
Our achievements …A systemwideOur vision system wide roll out
transformation
Vision 2024
Ongoing Program: Funds from All 6 M Farmers
Government of India, State 2022
Government and Philanthropy 4.1M farmers
Existing Partners
68%
2020 APPI
1.7M farmers
UNEP
2019 28% FAO
1M farmers SIFF

2018 15% ICRAF

523,000 farmers BNP Paribas
8% CIRAD
2017
2016 IDH
163,000 farmers
40,000 farmers
UNIVERSITY OF
3% READING
32
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN – YEAR WISE COVERAGE OF G.P S

Year GPs Cumulative GPs

2016-22 691 691
2017-23 267 958
2018-24 1917 2,875
2019-25 2000 4,875
2020-26 3000 7,875
2021-27 5049 12,924
Total 12924 (in about 2585 Clusters)
Cost for converting one farmer household over 5 years

# Heads Per Farmer Cost %

(in Rs)
1 Capacity building 12700 47%
2 Institution building and funds to farmers’ institutions 6550 24%
3 One time Subsidy/Support for access to inputs, tools etc., to 1000 4%
Farmers and Farmers' Institutions
4 PGS Certification, Quality Assurance, Tracking and Monitoring 2900 11%
5 Marketing Capacity Building and Marketing Support 1400 5%
6 Support for Science and Restructuring Farming Curriculums 1000 4%
7 Technical Support and Overall Programme Management – 1500 6%
district and beyond
Total 27,050 100%
 Benefit Stream for one GP
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 to 12
Farm Families @1 ha 30 90 270 360 400
Reduced Cost of Benefits
Cultivation 13,500 14,850 16,200 18,225 20,250 from year
Interest Savings on 6 to 12
Borrowed Funds 1,620 1,782 1,944 2,187 2,430 and
Value of Higher Yield thereafter
are:
5,000 5,500 6,000 6,500 7,000
52,451 per
Intercrop Value
year
12,000 14,400 14,400 15,600 16,800
Fairer Returns
3,000 3,375 3,797 4,271
-
Total Benefits per farmer 32,120 39,532 41,919 46,309 50,751
Benefits for 400 members
in GP (in Rs. Lakh) 9.64 35.58 113.18 166.71
35
203.00 1468.64
 BC Ratio (7% discount rate) – for one GP
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 to 12
Farm Families 30 90 270 360 400
Benefits for 400 9.64 35.58 113.18 166.71 203.00 1468.64
members in GP
(Lakh)
Costs (Lakh) 17.77 21.82 25.08 23.96 11.56
NPV of Benefits 9.64 33.25 98.86 136.09 154.87 1295.31
(1295.31 Lakh)
NPV of Costs 17.77 20.39 21.91 19.56 8.82
(88.45 Lakh)
B:C Ratio
13.64 times
Funds Required and Economic Benefit Streams to farmers (in Rs. Crore)

Funds/ Budget, Rs. Economic Benefit to 30000

Crore Farmers, Rs. Crore
Yearly fund Cumulative
Year requiremen fund Cumulative
25000
t requiremen Yearly Benefit Benefit to
(in Rs. t (in Rs. to Farmers Farmers
20000
Crore) Crore) (in Rs. Cr) (in Rs. Cr)

2018-19 216 216 1,102 1,102 15000

2019-20 778 994 2,540 3,642

2020-21 1,648 2,642 6,058 9,700 10000

2021-22 3,581 6,223 11,454 21,153

5000
2022-23 3,769 9,992 19,126 40,280
2023-24 3,488 13,480 23,991 64,271
0
2024-25 2,218 15,698 26,654 90,925 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26

2025-26 754 16,452 27,115 1,18,040 Yearly fund requirement Yearly Benefit to Farmers
(in Rs. Crore) (in Rs. Cr)
Total 16,452 118,040
Annual fertilizer subsidy for A.P is around Rs.5500 cr
Our biggest reward - Happy Farmers
Our biggest reward - Happy Farmers
Our biggest reward - Happy Farmers
Our biggest reward - Happy Farmers
Our biggest reward - Happy Farmers
Our biggest reward - Happy Farmers
Our biggest reward - Happy Farmers, happy farmer families
Thank you