GUNTUR, India (AP) - There is a pungent odor on Ratna Raju's farm that he says protects his crops from the unpredictable and extreme weather that is becoming more common due to human-induced climate change.
The smell comes from a mixture of cow urine, an unrefined sugar known as jaggery, and other organic materials that act as fertilizers, pesticides and bad weather barriers for his corn, rice, leafy greens and other vegetables on his farm in Guntur in southern India. State of Andhra Pradesh. The region is often hit by cyclones and extreme heat, and farmers say so-called natural farming protects their crops because the soil can hold more water and their more robust roots help the plants withstand strong winds.
Andhra Pradesh has become a positive example of the benefits of natural farming, and advocates say active government support is the key driver of the state's success. Experts say these methods need to be expanded across India's vast agricultural lands as climate change and falling profits have sparked several farmer protests this year. But emerging government support across the country for these methods means most farmers are still using chemical pesticides and fertilizers, making them more vulnerable when extreme weather strikes. Many farmers are calling for greater federal and state investments to help farms transition to practices that are more resilient to climate change.
For many, the benefits of greater investment in natural farming are already clear: in December, Cyclone Michaung, a storm traveling at up to 70 miles per hour, brought heavy rainfall along India's southeastern coast, flooding towns and fields. A preliminary assessment conducted a few weeks later found that 600,000 hectares of crops had been destroyed in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
But on Raju's natural farm, where he was growing rice at the time, "rainwater on our farms seeped into the ground in one day," he said. The soil can absorb more water because it is more porous than pesticide-laden soil, which is crusty and dry. Planting different types of crops throughout the year - as opposed to more standard single-crop farms - also helps keep soil healthy, he said.
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But neighboring farmer Srikanth Kanapala's fields, which rely on chemical pesticides and fertilizers, were flooded for four days after the cyclone. He said the fact that Raju's crops survived despite his crop failure made him curious about alternative farming methods.
"I suffered huge losses," said Kanapala, who estimates he lost as much as $600 in the cyclone, a significant amount for a small farmer in India. "For the next planting season, I plan to use natural farming methods as well."
Local and federal government initiatives have led to an estimated 700,000 farmers in the state switching to natural farming, according to Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, a government-backed non-profit organization formed in 2016 to promote natural farming. The state of Andhra Pradesh hopes to inspire all its six million farmers to practice natural farming by the end of the decade.
India's federal government's Ministry of Agriculture has spent more than $8 million to promote natural farming and says farmers farming nearly a million hectares across the country have switched to the practice. In March last year, India's Deputy Agriculture Minister said he hoped to see at least 25% of farms across India using organic and natural farming techniques.
But farmers like Meerabi Chunduru, among the first in the region to switch to natural farming, say more government and political support is needed. Chunduru said she switched to the practice after her husband's health deteriorated, which she said was due to long-term exposure to certain harmful pesticides.
Although the health effects of various pesticides have not yet been studied in detail, farm workers around the world have long claimed that long-term exposure has caused health problems. In February, a jury in Philadelphia awarded $2.25 billion in damages in a case in which a glyphosate herbicide - 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, 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 at the moment. There is some support, but we need more," Chunduru said. She called for more subsidies for seeds such as groundnuts, black gram, sorghum, vegetable crops and maize that can help farmers make the transition.
Farmers' rights activists said skepticism about natural farming remains widespread among political leaders, government bureaucrats and scientists as they still trust existing farming models that use fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides to achieve maximum productivity. In the short term, chemical alternatives may be cheaper and more effective, but in the long term they take a toll on soil health, meaning greater amounts of chemicals are needed to sustain crops, causing a cycle of higher costs and a poorer soil. Advocates of natural farming say so.
"Agroecological initiatives do not receive enough attention or budgetary expenditure," says Kavitha Kuruganti, an activist who has been advocating for sustainable agricultural practices for almost three decades. The Indian government spends less than three percent of its total budget on agriculture. The country has allocated nearly $20 billion in fertilizer subsidies this year, but the federal government has allocated only $55 million to encourage natural farming. Kuruganti said there are a handful of politicians who support the practice, but scaling it up remains a challenge in India.
A lack of national standards and guidelines or a viable supply chain through which farmers can sell their produce also means that natural farming remains relatively niche, says NS Suresh, research scientist at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, a Bengaluru-based company. thinktank.
But because the practice helps keep plants and soil healthy in a variety of soil types and in a variety of unpredictable weather conditions, it is beneficial to farmers across India, from the mountains to the coasts, experts say. And the practice of planting different crops throughout the year means farmers can harvest produce at any time, giving an extra boost to their soil and their wallets.
Chunduru, who has been practicing natural farming for four years now, hopes that prioritizing natural farming in the country can bring benefits to both crop producers and consumers, and that other farmers can avoid the kind of damage her husband has faced .
"We can provide future generations with nutrient-dense food, soil and physical health," she said.
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Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India.
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