IASSI-Quarterly
  • Year: 2022
  • Volume: 41
  • Issue: 3

Agroecology and sustainable smallholder agriculture: An exploratory analysis with some tentative indications from the recent experience of ‘Natural Farming in Andhra Pradesh’1

  • Author:
  • D. Narasimha Reddy1
  • Total Page Count: 39
  • Page Number: 233 to 271

1Visiting Professor, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi and Professor of Economics (Rtd.), University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. I am grateful to the Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) especially Sri T. Vijaya Kumar, the Executive Vice Chairman, RySS, Sri C. Muralidhar, Senior Consultant and Dr. C.P. Nagi Reddy of RySS for encouraging me to review the work by providing access to all the available material. I also thank the present Chairman of APIDS, Prof. Mahendra Dev and Prof. S. Galab, Director, APIDS and his team for the cooperation. I am also grateful to Dr. P. Raghupathi and Dr. D. Siva Kumar for the last mile help.

This paper is a revised version of the Professor R. Radhakrishna Memorial Lecture delivered at the 21st Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Social Science Institutions, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai 15 June, 2022. The choice of the theme for this lecture was driven by the consideration that in the last few years, Professor R. Radhakrishna evinced keen interest in 'Natural Farming' and was involved in guiding the assessment of the performance of the A.P. Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) by the AP Institute of Development Studies, Visakhapatnam.

Abstract

This paper looks at the potential of agro-ecology for farming systems in India in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive development of agriculture in the country. It situates the potential of agro-ecology within the larger structural transformation context of the rural, agricultural and smallholder Indian economy, arguing that the preponderance of the smallholders in India is in contrast to the accepted view and past experiences of development. This calls for the exploration of alternative approaches to the development of agriculture in India. Using the case of 'Natural Farming' in Andhra Pradesh, the paper explores the impact and constraints of adopting agro-ecology on smallholder agriculture through the four indicators of impact of CNF on quality of soil, crops, food and life, the impact of CNF on diversification of farming and sources of income costs, yields and value of crop output in a comparative perspective and farmers' participation in and practices of CNF. State support is imperative for the stable and gainful adoption of these initiatives at a large scale, which can provide livelihood security to the farmers of the country.

Keywords

Agro-ecology, APCNF, Natural farming, Smallholder agriculture, Chemical farming