Palnadu farmers lauded for natural farming practices

Pedakurapadu (Palnadu): A delegation from the USA including Keith Agoada, CEO and co-founder of Producers Trust and Craig Cogut, a representative from Pegasus Capital Advisors, while visiting Palnadu district, was highly impressed and appreciated the principles behind natural farming, especially acknowledging the remarkable role played by women from Self-Help Groups (SHGs) who earn Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per month from just 20 cents of land using natural farming models.

Keith Agoada is a leader in regenerative agriculture and a champion for farmers worldwide.

Earlier, district project manager K Amala Kumari informed the team with demonstration of inputs like Beejamrutham, Dravajeevamrutham, and Neemastram. K Jyothi, a woman farmer, presented the Any Time Money (ATM) and Surya Mandala models, explaining how these multi-cropping models, involving 27 different crops such as trap crops, border crops, leafy vegetables, and other vegetables, allow farmers to earn a consistent income throughout the year.

They also visited T Madhavi’s A-grade compact block model, which included crops like banana, coconut, papaya, guava, marigold, leafy greens, vegetables, tubers, and creepers planted on the bunds.

The SHG, led by T Savitri, introduced the foreign delegation to the Natural Resource Centre, where Executive Vice-Chairman of RySS T Vijay Kumar suggested establishing similar centres in each village to provide farmers with essential inputs like Jeevamrutham.

In Nagireddypalem, the delegation held discussions with women SHG members.

The team also visited Brahmanapalli village, where farmer Gurrala Mallikarjuna demonstrated the planting of various intercrops between pigeon pea rows, including cluster beans, pearl millet, okra, drumstick, green gram, and 25 other biodiversity crops. Finally, in Pedakurapadu village, the delegation visited the field of Amulya, a woman farmer whose crops had withstood heavy rains and floods on 31st August.