University of Birmingham, RySS to advance natural farming research

Vijayawada: The University of Birmingham has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Government-owned Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), the implementing agency for the Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme to drive pioneering research and the large-scale adoption of natural farming innovations in India.

The state government has been leading efforts to transition towards chemical-free, natural farming in response to the ongoing ecological and economic crisis in agriculture and ensure better returns for small and marginal farmers with an ambitious goal of reaching all six million farmers in the state by 2035.

The MoU, which will be in force for three years, is spearheaded by Dr Fraser Sugden from the School of Geography, Earth, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Joint field trials will be conducted with support from APCNF community resource persons who are farmers trained to scale natural farming innovations. The initiative will be implemented in established field sites where Dr Sugden’s team has been working with farmer collectives since 2015.

The farmers involved in the trials will receive training in innovative natural farming techniques that introduce transformative approaches to soil, nutrient, water, and crop management. The implementation and documentation of results will be supported by North Bengal Agricultural University and the NGOs, including the Centre for the Development of Human Initiatives and Sakhi (Bihar).

The partnership aims at exploring how AP’s revolutionary natural farming model can be adapted and scaled in the distinct ecological and socio-economic conditions of Bihar and West Bengal. Additionally, the research will build on Dr Sugden’s ongoing institutional experiments in group farming, which have been conducted since 2014.

The fusion of institutional and technical innovations is expected to provide a scalable blueprint for smallholder agricultural transformation across India. The collaboration also seeks to overcome challenges associated with land fragmentation and resource management, common obstacles in regions such as the Gangetic plains.