The Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF), a State government’s initiative launched through Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) seven years ago, has won the 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, an award instituted by Portugal-based Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF) and presented annually to individuals and organisations contributing to global food security, climate resilience and ecosystem protection.
The APCNF shares this year’s one million euro prize money with two others-renowned soil scientist Rattan Lal and Egypt-based SEKEM, a conglomeration of NGOs and businesses championing holistic approaches to tackle climate change.
The three recipients of the award were selected out of 181 nominations with nominees from 117 nationalities by a jury chaired by Dr. Angela Markel, former German Chancellor and the current president of the jury of the CGF.
The APCNF is a Statewide programme supporting smallholder farmers to switch from chemically intensive agriculture to ‘natural farming’, through practices such as using organic residues and minimising tillage to improve soil health, reintroducing indigenous seeds and diversifying crops, including trees.
The initiative was launched in 2016 by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to find a sustainable solution to farmers’ distress caused by economic crises in agriculture and climate change.
“We have been able to reach out to 10 lakh farmers in the State and women self-help groups have played a very important role in this initiative,” said Vijay Kumar Thallam, executive vice-chairman of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha and advisor to the Government of Andhra Praesh, Agriculture and Cooperative Department.
Speaking to The Hindu from Lisbon (Portugal) where he, along with Nettem Nagendramma, a champion farmer coach of the APCNF from the drought-prone Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, received the award, Mr. Vijay Kumar said in the face of climate emergency, farming in harmony with nature, holds tremendous promise. “It is not only good for farmers’ livelihoods and people’s health, but it is also very effective for providing resilience to climate change,” he said.
Ms. Nagendramma, a small farmer from Ghantapuram village in Anantapur, said she did not realise the importance of going natural by shunning the chemical-based agriculture, until she could address her daughter’s vision deficiency through this traditional method of farming.
She became a Champion Farmer Coach of the APCNF in 2019 and set on a mission to win over more farmers. In 2023, she became a Model Master Trainer, mentoring other trainers across the district. The programme aims to reach all eight million farmer households in Andhra Pradesh over the next 10 years and inspire replication elsewhere. With the growing interest in this traditional farming practice.
Andhra Pradesh is also supporting 12 other States in the country and this year (2024-25) the State plans to send its farmers to five different countries to take this seeding of natural farming to farmers there. “The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to use this prize money for seeding the programme in other countries,” said Mr. Vijay Kumar.
