News Excerpt:

The Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) has been awarded the 2024 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity.

More detail about news

• The APCNF shares this year's €1 million prize money with two other distinguished recipients:
• Renowned soil scientist Rattan Lal
• Egypt-based SEKEM, a coalition of NGOs and businesses promoting holistic approaches to address climate change.

Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF)

• APCNF is a state government initiative launched through Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) in 2016.
• Its primary goal is to support smallholder farmers in transitioning from chemically intensive agriculture to natural farming.
• Key practices include using organic residues, minimizing tillage, reintroducing indigenous seeds, and diversifying crops, including trees.
• APCNF aims to provide sustainable solutions to the economic and climate challenges faced by farmers.
• The program has successfully reached over one million farmers, with significant contributions from women's self-help groups.
• It focuses on improving soil health, promoting biodiversity, and enhancing climate resilience.
• It is not only beneficial for farmers' livelihoods and public health but also highly effective in providing resilience to climate change.

Expanding Beyond Andhra Pradesh

• With growing interest in traditional farming practices, Andhra Pradesh is also supporting 12 other states in India.
• This year (2024-25), the state plans to send its farmers to five different countries to promote natural farming.
• The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to use the prize money to seed the program in other countries.