Andhra Pradesh’s natural farming model wins Gulbenkian Prize

Andhra Pradesh's APCNF wins 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, promoting natural farming for global food security and climate resilience.

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.