Natural Farming Gains Popularity Among Farmers in Drought-Hit Kurnool District

P N Maddileti from Kallur mandal said though farmers are getting nominal profits in natural farming, consumers are quite happy vis-a-vis the taste and quality of the produce

From 3,254 acres in 2015-16 to 66,800 in 2021-22 and to around 86,000 acres now, the area under natural farming increased. The utilization of pesticides has declined significantly from 453 metric tons in 2014-15 to 174 metric tonnes in 2021-22.

Ecologists consider this a healthy trend. Kurnool has a fallow-chickpea rotation cropping system. Under residual moisture conditions, chickpea was grown in the post-rainy season. The rainfall from October-December was critical for augmenting crop productivity.

The major crops grown in the district are rice, chickpea, sunflower, groundnut, millet, cotton, black gram, onion, chilies, fruits, and vegetables.

The district observed a poor response to calls for natural farming, from the traditional farmers, who used chemical fertilizers and pesticides for boosting productivity. This trend continued in present times.

The state government promoted Zero Budget Natural Farming and eventually, the Rythu Sadhikara Sadhana Samithi was formed to encourage natural farming.

In 2016-17, to take up the farming activity 3,300 farmers from 58 gram-panchayats came forward. The quality of yield, and low consumption of pesticides and fertilizer. The good demand in the market augmented the number to 66,800 farmers, who were spread over 329 Gram Panchayats out of 484 GPs in the whole district.

From Kallur, SK Kalesha said that they have been following the technique for some years and this was useful even during drought conditions. He displayed happiness over the development and said they still have to find a solution for protecting the crop from worms.

Farmers say that the problems are multi-dimensional in terms of getting the dung of animals and leaves of trees like neem for taking up natural farming in a bigger area. The initial stress on using only cow dung and avoiding the dung of goats, sheep, buffaloes, and bulls was another matter of concern for farmers.

The cost of organic farming differs from one area to the other in the district. They vary with regard to the wages for the agricultural labourers and the extent of land they use. Progressive farmers are creating WhatsApp groups for selling products directly to consumers.

A Ramanamma, a farmer from Komarolu in Orvakal Mandal said they have created 18 groups and are in contact with the consumers from the Kurnool City and Orvakal areas.

A senior official from the agriculture department said that the usage of urea, DAP, SSP, MOP, complex, and others diminished from 5.43 lakh MTs in 2014-15 to 5.34 lakh MTs in 2021-22.

During 2018-19, there was only the use of 4.40 lakh MTs due to the lesser level of understanding of the importance of natural farming. Likewise, the utilization of pesticides during the year was only 171 MTs.

Most farmers complain about the problem of marketing for the yield linked with the organic farming pattern and lament the poor understanding among the consumers on the better quality of products from fields using organic manures.

From Kallur mandal, P N Maddileti said though farmers are getting nominal profits in natural farming, consumers are quite happy with the quality and taste of the yield.