Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF), a State Government initiative launched through Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) seven years ago, has been awarded the 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity; an award established by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF), based in Portugal and given yearly to those who contribute to global food security, climate resilience and ecosystem protection.
There are two other recipients of this year’s one million euro prize money: renowned soil scientist Rattan Lal and Egypt-based SEKEM, a conglomeration of NGOs and businesses championing holistic approaches to tackle climate change.
The CGF jury chaired by Dr. Angela Markel, former German Chancellor and the current president of the jury of the CGF selected three out of 181 nominated individuals from 117 different nationalities.
Through its practices such as using organic residues and minimising tillage to improve soil health, reintroducing indigenous seeds and diversifying crops including trees, APCNF supports smallholder farmers across the State to transition from chemically intensive agriculture into ‘natural farming’.
In response to economic crises in agriculture and climate change that have led to farmers’ distress, it was launched by Andhra Pradesh Government in 2016 as part of efforts towards finding a sustainable solution.
“Women self-help groups have played a very important role in this initiative. We have been able to reach out to 10 lakh farmers in the State,” said Mr. Vijay Kumar Thallam who is executive vice-chairman of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha as well as advisor to Government of Andhra Praesh Agriculture & Cooperative Department.
Mr. Vijay Kumar spoke with The Hindu from Lisbon (Portugal) where he received this award together with Nettem Nagendramma, a champion farmer coach within drought-prone Anantapur district Andhra Pradesh. According to him, given the climate emergency; farming is a tremendous promise that will pave way for nature. “It not only helps farmers in their livelihoods and people’s health but also is very effective as far as climate change is concerned,” he added.
Only through this method of farming did she realize how important it was to stop using chemicals in agriculture, until she was able to cure her daughter’s vision defect.” This came as a result of traditional farming methods.
She became a Champion Farmer Coach of the APCNF in 2019 and set on a mission to win over more farmers. She became Model Master Trainer mentoring other trainers across the district at 2023. In addition, the programme aims at reaching all eight million farmer households in Andhra Pradesh over the next ten years and inspiring replication elsewhere which has recently sparked an interest.
In addition,” this year (2024-25), Andhra Pradesh plans to take its farmers to five different nations for seeding natural farming there.” The prize money is meant for seeding the program in other countries by Andhra Pradesh Government,” said Mr.. Vijay Kumar.
