GUNTUR, India (AP) — There’s a pungent odor on Ratna Raju’s farm, and she says it protects her crops from unpredictable and extreme weather that’s becoming more frequent with human-caused climate change.
The smell comes from a mixture of cow urine, unrefined sugar known as jaggery and other organic substances that act as fertilizers, pesticides and bad weather barriers for corn, rice, leafy greens and other vegetables at his farm in Guntur in southern India. Andhra Pradesh state. The region is hit by frequent hurricanes and extreme heat, and farmers say natural farming protects their crops because the soil can hold more water and sturdier roots help plants withstand strong winds.
Andhra Pradesh has become a positive example of the benefits of natural farming, and advocates say active government support is a key driver of the state’s success. Experts say these methods should be spread across India’s vast agricultural areas as climate change and dwindling profits have led to protests by many farmers this year. But incipient government support for these methods across the country means most farmers still use chemical pesticides and fertilizers, making them more vulnerable to extreme weather. Many farmers are calling for more federal and state investment to help farms switch to practices that are more resilient to climate change.
For many, the benefits of investing more in natural farming are already clear: In December, Cyclone Michaung, moving at speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour), brought heavy rains to India’s southeastern coast, flooding towns and fields. A preliminary assessment a few weeks later found that 600,000 acres of crops had been destroyed in Andhra Pradesh state.
But at Raju’s natural farm, where he was growing paddy at the time, “rainwater from our farms seeped into the ground in a day,” he said. The soil is more porous than pesticide-laden, crusty, dry soil and can absorb more water. Planting different types of crops throughout the year, as opposed to more standard single-crop farms, also helps keep the soil healthy, he said.
But neighboring farmer Srikanth Kanapala’s fields, which used chemical pesticides and fertilizers, were flooded for four days after the cyclone. He said seeing Raju’s crops remain intact even though he failed himself made him curious about alternative farming methods.
“I suffered huge losses,” said Kanapala, who estimated he lost up to $600 due to the hurricane; this was a significant sum for a small farmer in India. “I plan to use natural farming methods in the next planting season.”
Local and federal government initiatives have resulted in an estimated 700,000 farmers in the state switching to natural farming, according to Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, a government-backed non-profit organization launched in 2016 to promote natural farming. The state of Andhra Pradesh hopes to inspire all six million of its farmers to take up natural farming by the end of the decade.
India’s federal government’s agriculture ministry has spent more than $8 million to promote natural farming and said farmers farming nearly a million acres across the country have switched to the practice. In March last year, India’s deputy commissioner of agriculture said he hoped at least 25% of farms in India would use organic and natural farming techniques.
But farmers like Meerabi Chunduru, one of the first farmers in the region to switch to natural farming, said more government and political support was needed. Chunduru said she adopted the practice after her husband’s health deteriorated and she believed it was due to long-term exposure to some harmful pesticides.
Although the health effects of various pesticides have not yet been studied in detail, agricultural workers around the world have long claimed that long-term exposure causes health problems. In February, a Philadelphia jury awarded $2.25 billion in damages in a case in which Glyphosate weedkiller, banned in India since 2022, was linked to a resident’s blood cancer. In India, 63 farmers died in the western state of Maharashtra in 2017. This is believed to be linked to a pesticide containing the chemical Diafenthiuron, which is currently banned in the European Union but not in India.
“Not many politicians are talking about natural farming right now. There is some support but we need more,” Chunduru said. He called for more subsidies for seeds such as groundnut, black gram, sorghum, vegetable crops and maize that could help farmers make the switch.
Farmers’ rights advocates said skepticism about natural farming remains widespread among political leaders, government bureaucrats and scientists because they still rely on existing farming models that use fertilizers, insecticides and insecticides to achieve maximum productivity. In the short term, chemical alternatives may be cheaper and more effective, but in the long term they harm the health of the soil; This means greater amounts of chemicals are needed to protect crops, resulting in greater costs and a poorer soil cycle. say natural farming advocates.
“Agroecological initiatives are not receiving enough attention and budget expenditures,” said activist Kavitha Kuruganti, who has been advocating sustainable agricultural practices for nearly three decades. The Indian government spends less than three percent of its total budget on agriculture. It allocated nearly $20 billion in fertilizer subsidies this year, but the federal government allocated only $55 million to promote natural farming. Kuruganti said there are a handful of politicians who support the app, but scaling it up in India remains a challenge.
NS Suresh, a research scientist at the Bengaluru-based Center for Science, Technology and Policy Research, said the absence of national standards and guidelines or a viable supply chain through which farmers can sell their produce has kept natural farming in a relatively niche space. think tank.
But experts say the practice is beneficial to farmers all over India, from the mountains to its coasts, as it helps keep plants and soil healthy across a variety of soil types and all kinds of unpredictable weather conditions. The practice of planting different crops throughout the year means farmers can harvest at any time, giving an extra boost to their land and their wallets.
Chunduru, who has been practicing natural farming for four years, hopes that prioritizing natural farming in the country will benefit both producers and consumers, and that other farmers will avoid the kind of damage her husband faced.
“We can provide nutrient-rich food, soil and physical health for future generations,” he said.
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Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India.
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