Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) of AP : for farmers, society

Innovation in Agriculture Zero Budget Natural Farming (Z.B.N.F)

of A.P : for farmers, society, environment and our collective future

T. Vijay Kumar, I.A.S ( Retired) Advisor, Agriculture, and Vice Chairman, Rythu sadhikara samstha Govt. of Andhra Pradesh vjthallam@gmail.com

Structure of presentation

1. Why Z.B.N.F ?

2. What is it

3. Results

4. Innovations in Z.B.N.F – the science and its

implementation

5. Future plan

6. The planetary significance

Why Z.B.N.F ?

• Farmers welfare

– reducing costs and risks

– increasing yields - both short term and long term

– regular streams of income through out the year

– Climate change resilience ( tolerance to drought and heavy rains)

• Freedom from hunger and improved health

– more food, safe food and nutritious food

Why Z.B.N.F

• Protect soil health and environmental health. Enhanced soil organic matter, soil microbiota and fauna, better water holding, better bio diversity, better mineral absorption, etc.

• For Governments: accelerate achievement of SDGs, compete better in agriculture markets, savings in fertiliser subsidies, savings in health expenditure

• Safeguarding our collective future – survival and prosperity of future generations

6

What is Z.B.N.F? - farming in “harmony with nature”.

Zero budget natural farming is a complete paradigm shift from external input based Green revolution. Pioneered by Padma Shri awardee, Sh. Subhash Palekar, “ Rishi Krishi”, about 25 years ago. He is revered by Z.B.N.F farmers, in all states of the country Z.B.N.F is the future of agriculture, firmly rooted in Indian traditions

Core Principles of Z.B.N.F

2. JEEVAMRUTHAM Enhance soil microbiome through an ‘inoculum’ of fermented cow dung, cow urine and other local ingredients

1.BEEJAMRUTHAM Microbial seed coating through cow urine and dung based formulations.

3. COVER CROPS and MULCHING: Ground to be kept covered with crops, and also crop residues

4. WAAPHASA

Fast build up of soil humus through ZBNF leads to soil aeration, soil structure, and water harnessing

7

Drought proofing in Anantpur through Pre Monsoon Navdhanya

9 Natural farming Fellows undertook pre monsoon sowing

Land preparation by ploughing and applying Ghanajeevamrutham

Navdhanya seeds treated with beejamrutham and broadcasted on the field

Mulching done by ground nut and bajra husk

ZBNF

Impact of WAPHASA - Pre Kharif 2018 – Drought Year

Germination observed within 8 days of sowing

Lush green Navdhanya crops with minimal irrigation

Robust plant produce Healthy root nodules Increase in soil moisture

seed treatment with

Beejamrutham

Ghanajeevamrutam preparation

11

Enhance soil biology through continuous creation of ‘humus’ / soil organic matter: Cowdung and cow urine based fermentations – ghana jeevamrutham, dhrava jeevamarutham

Indigenous cow ( ‘desi’) is essential. Dung and urine from one cow is adequate for 30 acres

Inter-crops and border crops

mulching

14

Core philosophy of ZBNF

• Air, water and soil has all nutrients that plants require, and, in abundant quantities. Hence there is no need to add synthetic fertilizers from outside

• The nutrients in the soil are in a ‘locked’ form – and as such plants cannot use them.

• Plants exude around 40% of the ‘food’ they produce through photosynthesis through the root hair, and, along with it they also exude enzymes, unique to their DNA

15

Core philosophy of ZBNF

• The exudates are the food for the soil microbes, and they multiply, their predators multiply, and the entire soil food web gets activated

• This triggers the ‘exchange’ process between plants, soil microbes and soil nutrients. The plentiful ‘locked’ minerals are made bio-available to plants

• ZBNF’s practices stimulate this process and build soil fertility on a continuous basis

Z.B.N.F and Agro ecology

In international classification, Z.B.N.F comes under climate change resilient, Agro ecology, more specifically under “Regenerative agriculture”. Regenerative Agriculture is a holistic land management practice that leverages the power of photosynthesis in plants to close the carbon cycle, and build soil health, crop resilience and nutrient density. Other terms are: “carbon farming’, “ liquid carbon pathway”, etc.

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Other Principles of ZBNF

• Pest management through sound agronomy and only where necessary use of botanical extracts – agni asthram, brahma asthram, etc.

(Once soil fertility improves to a optimal level there is no need for botanicals) • Indigenous seeds – are essential. They have co –

evolved for thousands of years. They are more resilient, more productive and respond better to Z.B.N.F.

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• Investment for the main crop – field crop or tree crop - recovered through income from short duration inter crops

Hence the term zero budget

Other benefits from intercropping:

• Soil humus production enhanced, more nutritious food, pest management, risk management, optimal sunlight utilization, water conservation.

Why is it called ‘Zero budget’

21

Is Z.B.N.F “organic” or is it “traditional” • Z.B.N.F is not “ organic input agriculture”. There

are no external inputs such as ‘bio – fertilisers’, compost, or vermi compost, or exotic and expensive ‘bio’ products, etc. Organic input based agriculture very expensive

• The output of Z.B.N.F meets the requirements of “organic” certification

• Z.B.N.F is not ‘traditional agriculture’. Cow dung

formulation in Z.B.N.F is not a bio-fertilizer, it is an inoculum.

22

Z.B.N.F implementation: AP’s Z.B.N.F initiative – Phase I (2016 -22)

Scope:

• 500,000 farmers and 500,000 hectares, in

3000 villages

• all 5 agro climatic zones of the state,

• all 13 districts of the State. and,

• all 664 mandals of the state

23

A.P strategy: Whole village approach. All farmers – with a focus on small and marginal farmers, are motivated to practice Z.B.N.F. Plan: all cultivable area in the village should come under Z.B.N.F in 5 years

Farmers Coverage over 3 years: • 1st year 15%, 2nd year 50%, 3rd year > 80% Each farmer: takes 3 years to cover the entire holding – 1/4th / ½ / full area

In 5 years, a village becomes a ‘bio village’

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A.P Z.B.N.F Phase I programme

Funding:

• Programme funding – 2016 – 2022: Rashtriya Krishi vikas yojana (R.K.V.Y) and Paramparagat Krishi vikas yojana (P.K.V.Y). Central assistance to State programmes of Ministry of Agriculture ( total estimated requirement – Rs.1250 crores

• All Staff costs: State Govt

• Technical support: a grant of Rs.100 crores from Azim Premji Philanthropic initiatives (A.P.P.I)

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AP’s achievements - outreach

• Programme design and preparatory work – June 2015 to Jan, 2016.

• Sh. Palekar’s 8 day training in Jan, 2016 for 5000 farmers.

• 1st year - 2016 – 17: 40,000 farmers in 704 villages

• 2nd year – 2017 -18: 163,000 farmers in 972 villages

• 3rd year – 2018-19 target: 500,000 farmers, 3015 villages

2018 – 19: 15 % of all villages, and 8% farmers – a tipping point

Results: Yields are increasing across crops ZBNF and Non-ZBNF Yields in kgs/ha

Food Crops: Kharif 2017

26

Paddy : 1,155 CCEs

5,418 4,960 ZBNF NON-ZBNF

+ 9%

Guli Ragi: 6 CCEs

2,007 1,434 ZBNF NON-ZBNF

+ 40%

Ragi: 17 CCEs

1,539 1,313 ZBNF NON-ZBNF

+ 17%

State Avg Yield 5049

State Avg Yield 1131 State Avg Yield 1131

Blackgram: 10 CCEs

860 708 ZBNF NON-ZBNF

+ 21% State Avg Yield 823

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Groundnut (Irrigated): 77 CCEs

2,555 2,034 ZBNF NON-ZBNF

+ 26%

Groundnut (Rainfed): 65 CCEs

2,286 1,680 ZBNF NON-ZBNF

+ 36%

Cotton: 33 CCEs

1,355 1,217 ZBNF NON-ZBNF

+ 11%

Chillies: 13 CCEs

6,832 5,427 ZBNF NON-ZBNF

+ 26%

State Avg Yield 1292 State Avg Yield 1292

State Avg Yield 4574 State Avg Yield 547

Results: Yields are increasing across crops ZBNF and Non-ZBNF Yields in kgs/ha

Commercial crops: Kharif 2017

Crop Costs in

ZBNF Costs in non

ZBNF Net income

in ZBNF

Net income in Non ZBNF

% Change in Net

Income

Paddy 30,983 43,839 60,743 40,355 51%

Guli Ragi 7,375 8,125 42,789 27,717 54%

Ragi 6,875 7,625 31,590 25,195 25%

Blackgram 15,776 18,595 39,034 27,243 43%

Net incomes have increased ZBNF and Non-ZBNF Yields in Rs/ha

Food Crops: Kharif 2017

Crop Costs in

ZBNF Costs in non

ZBNF Net income

in ZBNF

Net income in Non ZBNF

% Change in Net Income

Groundnut (rainfed) 23,253 31,072 41,820 17,791 135%

Groundnut (irrigated) 45,866 59,800 97,383 60,303 61%

Cotton 40,368 58,658 63,522 34,036 87%

Chillies 32,883 48,215 2,41,390 1,57,337 53%

Net incomes have increased ZBNF and Non-ZBNF Yields in Rs/ha Commercial Crops: Kharif 2017

ZBNF- Poor farmers- Per farmer Average Investment, Gross and Net income

31199

36124

19781

77206

83188

65729

46012

57559

45948

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

300 SC ST farmers got Netincome of 138.03 Lakhs

213 Tenant farmers gotNetincome of 122.60 Lakhs

20 Single women farmers gotNet income of 9.18 Lakhs

Per farmer investment Per farmer Gross income Per farmer net income

0.86 0.82

0.49

0.27 0.31

0.13

0.59

0.5

0.36

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

300 SC ST Farmers,81.36 LakhsDebt Redempted

213 Tenant farmers, 92.57 LakhsDebt Redempted

20 Single Women farmers 2.61Lakhs Debt Redempted

Debt Burden Amount repaid through ZBNF Suplus Outstanding Debt

ZBNF- Poor farmers-Debt Redemption- Average per farmer

Resilience to Climate Change

35

Improved ability of ZBNF farms to withstand extreme weather conditions and seasonal changes

ZBNF Non ZBNF

Cyclone-damaged non-ZBNF conventional paddy plot adjacent to unaffected ZBNF paddy plot

A Case of Paddy Crop in Vishakapatnam district

36 36

Increase in earthworm movement

Presence of beneficiary

insects

Increased number of honey bees

Increase in birds and birds nest

Impact on Bio Diversity

Anantpur pre monsoon sown crops

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Z.B.N.F in A.P - key pillars The A.P programme has 6 key pillars :

1. Z.B.N.F is a transformative idea. Positive results experienced by farmers from the first year itself.

2. Govt. support and ownership. Agri dept, at all levels has owned the program

3. Dedicated implementation arrangements – state level to village level – through Rythu sadhikara samstha

4. Implementation by farmers. Farmer trainers created by the programme itself

5. Women SHGs and Farmers Institutions – for scaling up and sustaining and deepening the programme

6. Collaboration and networks – global and national - science, markets, finances, policy, development institutions

1. Key role of Sh. Subhash Palekar, father of ZBNF

3 mega

trainings

conducted

since 2016 3rd Training (31st Dec 2017 to

8th Jan 2018)

5,000 farmers

1st Training (Jan 2016 - 8 days),

2nd Training(Sep 2016 – 4 days)

30 farmers from each cluster, master farmers; 500-

600 Agri Dept Staff and ZBNF NGOs

8,000

farmers

2. A.P programme - strong commitment of the State Govt.

• Strong support right from the Hon’ble Chief

Minister of A.P to the village level

• At the District level, the District Collectors

have taken ownership of the programme

• At the Panchayat level, the Sarpanchas

and women SHGs are supporting the

program

AP: India’s First Natural Farming State

ZBNF 2024 (2nd June 2018 declaration )

60 lakh

farmers

80 lakh

hectares

12,294 GPs

Rythu Sadhikara Samstha Department of Agriculture

Government of Andhra Pradesh

RySS Mandated to Implement ZBNF For, Of and By Farmers

MoU between RySS and SIFF

• Implemented by the Agriculture Dept. and

farmers – State level to District level and

village level

• Creation of a state and district resource

pool. A unique collaboration of Agri dept

officials with master farmers, civil society

organizations

2. A.P programme - strong commitment of the State Govt.

3. Dedicated implementation by Rythu sadhikara samstha ( Ry.S.S) – full team

F.P.O at cluster level - Farmer Institutions, men and women, take

charge of the work beyond project period

State level implementation and technical support unit – 40 – 50 strong team – from the Dept. and professionals. District level Z.B.N.F unit – 10 -15 member team Cluster teams – 4 per mandal

4. Farmer ‘heroes’ central to the programme.

• The programme believes that most effective dissemination is

“farmer to farmer”

• The best practising farmers, called Community resource

persons (C.R.P s) are engaged by the Agri dept to take

Z.B.N.F to other farmers.

• Role of Agri Dept is to identify such ‘diamonds’ in the

community and capacitate them to play a larger role in

transforming other farmers.

4. Knowledge intensive programme and not input intensive A.P Extension model:

• One Sr. C.R.P per G.P (400 ) farmers

• One Jr. C.R.P per 50 to 100 farmers

• One Lead farmer per 10 men farmers

• One Lead woman farmer per SHG ( 10 women)

4. Programme acceleration: New innovation in extension – Natural farming fellows (N.F.F)

• Campus recruitment of Young

Agriculture graduates/post

graduates and positioning

them in one of the project

villages – one per 5 villages (

1/2000 farmers)

• A 3 year fellowship – 6 months

training, followed by 2 1/2

years of being practising

Z.B.N.F farmers and part of

cluster team of C.R.Ps

4. Natural farming fellows (N.F.F) • Performance appraisal: high weightage to

their success as farmers, and the kind of

innovative models they have set up.

• they must earn more from their farming

than the honorarium they get.

• Experiment started 4 months ago. 115

N.F.Fs recruited and are under training

• Another 300 in 2018 season

Multiple roles: farmers, trainers,

scientists, and team leaders

4. Enhancing their effectiveness - video dissemination

• Video dissemination happens everyday, in one of

the villages.

• C.R.Ps trained in video dissemination and provided

with pico projectors.

• Partnership with Digital Green Foundation for regular

production of short videos on ZBNF package of

practices and success stories.

• 300 Video films, covering all topics, made with real

farmers, by local youth trained in film making

4. Strong I.C.T backbone for programme management managed by farmers

A comprehensive I.C.T support is under development:

• Farmer Database;

• e-Tracking progress on adoption of ZBNF

practices,

• Enabling traceability - certification

• Crop conditions

• Performance monitoring of functionaries

• e Marketing

• Geo-mapping

• Climate information

4. ZBNF Package of practices made accessible to all farmers

• A comprehensive ZBNF workbook published

by the Agri. Dept and Agri. University

• Farmer friendly content – 18 ZBNF primers

have been developed, simple language, and

pictorial. More will be developed

• Crop cards, with package of practices and

timelines for each crop for each farmer

• Video cassettes of Sh. Palekar’s lectures

4. Making ZBNF inputs easily available

• ZBNF input shops – one per village, run by a ZBNF

farmer

• Need based inputs – Ghanajeevamrutham, agni

asthram, brahma asthram, etc.; Sprayers; seeds of

border crops and trap crops; yellow and white sticky

traps; pheromone traps; local vegetable seeds; etc

• Custom hiring centre in each cluster

• Cattleshed lining and urine collection tanks

5. Institution building

Institution Building

•Programme works with woman SHGs and their Village Organizations (VOs)

• Forms men SHGs and Farmer Federations at Village level

• Village SHG federations and men farmer-federations come together to form Cluster Federation

•SHGs and Federations facilitate farmers Plans, support to Poorest-of-Poor and Convergence

• Cluster Federations take over ZBNF implementation

Women play an important role

•Extension focuses on women SHGs

• 50% of Active/Lead Farmers are women

•Aim: 50% Internal CRPs to be women

• Farming plans draw support from women SHGs

5. Focus on ultra poor households

• Special focus on the most vulnerable - 20% of the

farmers

• Special models - poly cropping models, 36*36

model, ANNAPURNA model, backyard poultry,

small ruminants, etc

• Special credit facility and dedicated C.R.P

knowledge and handholding support

• Aim: Rs.100,000 per annum net income for

each family

Bajra line sowing

Nutrition garden

Kitchen garden

5 layer model

6. Strategic Partnerships and collaborations

FundingSupport

GoISchemes

• RKVY

• PKVY

1

TechnicalSupport

APPI

• EstablishingTechnicalSupportUnit

• Programme Tracking,ImpactandScientificStudies

2

ImplementationSupport

CivilSociety

• ResourceNGOs

• FieldNGOs

3

F A

O

ResourceMobilizationforScalingupZBNF

MoUwithBNPParibas

EstablishingSciencebehind

ZBNF

CreatingmarketaccessforZBNF

farmers

ConnectwithotherDonors

Quantifyinghealthbenefitstocitizens

UN

EP

SIF

F

63

A.P Govt’s Vision - scaling up

to the whole state

A.P Govt plans to cover 60 lakh farmers in 12924 Gram

panchayats by 2024 and cover the entire cultivable area

of 80 lakh hectares by 2026. ( 90 % area)

Estimated Resources required for this exercise –

Rs.16247 crores, 7 years 2018 to 2026

(compare this with the expenditure on fertilizer

subsidy: Rs.5000 crore per year on A.P )

Achieving the Vision

2017-18

Reached all districts and 50% mandals

2019-20 Reach All Mandals

2021-22 Reach All GPs (12,924)

2023-24 Reach All Farm Families

2025-26 Cover entire cultivable area in AP

163,000 farmers

35 lakh farmers

60 lakh farmers

60 lakh farmers

7.5 lakh farmers

5.0 lakh farmers are reached in 2018-19

Overall Benefits of ZBNF

Eco-system Benefits and

health benefits to citizens

13 Rupees in Economic

Benefits to farmer

One rupee spent on

converting a farmer into

ZBNF

65

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Generic lessons …

1.How to rank innovations? Which ones

should we pursue ?

2.Innovation in dissemination critical – as

important as the idea itself.

3.Role of social capital in inclusive

dissemination – institutions of poor,

citizens, community best practitioners, etc

4.Investment on the demand side

5.Social accountability