Natural farming gains momentum in Kurnool

KURNOOL: Natural farming is gaining popularity in the drought-hit Kurnool district. While 3,300 farmers showed interest in such farming in 2015-16, their number increased largely by now.

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

Ecologists consider this as a healthy trend. 

Kurnool has a fallow-chickpea rotation cropping system. Chickpea was grown in the post-rainy season under residual moisture conditions. The rainfall from October-December was critical for enhancing crop productivity.

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

The district witnessed a poor response to calls for natural farming, from the traditional farmers, who used chemical fertilizers and pesticides for enhancing productivity. This trend continued till recently.

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

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

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

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

“We have been facing trouble storing them.” A farmer from Gudur mandal in the district, who has taken up organic farming on his four-acre land, said he had grown cotton, jowar, onions and brown top millet (Andakorra) by organic farming methods and found it was good for the soil. He is preparing manure and concoctions on his own to spray pests for the crop.

The cost of organic farming varies from one area to the other in the district. They differ as regards 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.

Farmer A Ramanamma from Komarolu in Orvakal mandal said they have created 18 groups and are in contact with the consumers from Kurnool city and Orvakal areas.

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

There was only the use of 4.40 lakh MTs during 2018-19 due to the lesser level of understanding of the significance of natural farming. Similarly, the use of pesticides during the year was only 171 MTs.

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

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.