NPM Scaling up in Experiences in AP

Civil society was always engaged in establishing models of development on a smaller scale and lobby for changes in the dominant policy paradigm. While very few of them are accepted and adopted by the governments and international agencies, many are discounted questioning their relevance on a larger scale. In mainstreaming the accepted models, often governments try to fit them into the existing thinking and systems which often lead to failure. Rarely one gets an opportunity to design and implement the scaling up from a small experience. The NPM scaling up in AP is one such good case to understand the nuances of sc

aling up.

Crisis looming over the agriculture based livelihoods in Andhra Pradesh is evident

16 out of 32 distress districts are in AP
Ever increasing costs of cultivation due to externalization of inputs specially seeds and pesticides
Dependency on traders and dealers for credit
Increasing ecological costs due to high chemical and GM use
Decreasing margins to farmers
Political distress-farmers loosing control over seeds (cotton to groundnut)

Andhra Pradesh has a history of witnessing spate Farmers Suicides every decade mainly due to failure of cotton crop. In 1987-88 in Prakasham and Guntur districts more than 100 farmers died after the cotton crop failed due to heavy incidence of pests. Many farmers from these districts have migrated to Telangana region where lands were available at lower prices for purchase and lease. They again started to test their luck with cotton which initially showed promise. Others in the region also started adopting similar practices. The tentacles of the pesticide and seed industry have not spared them. The costs of cultivations increased. The problems with pests and seed also increased. The crisis mounted and during 1997-98, hundreds of cases of suicides were reported from the Warangal and other cotton growing regions. During 2004-05, the year when the elections were fought and new government came to power more than 2000 farmers ended their lives in despair. This time the incidents were not limited to cotton crop or dry land regions but spread across districts and farmers growing all kinds of crops.

This crisis during 2004-05 forced the development organizations and state government to look for alternative models of agriculture which can sustain the livelihoods of the people depending on agriculture. The success of "Punukula" village in Khammam district with support from Centre for Sustainable Agriculture which sustained the farming by switching over to Non Pesticidal Management (NPM) has attracted the attention of the state and nation. Hon"ble Minister for Agriculture, Raghuveera Reddy visited the village along with Agriculture Scientists and Department Officials and appreciated the effort done by the farmers. Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Chairperson of the Commission appointed by Government of Andhra Pradesh also visited the village and suggested to take up on a larger scale. Learning from these experiences SERP (Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty-a society initiated by Government of AP to address the poverty issues in AP) has taken up NPM on a pilot basis in Kosigi Mandal of Mahboobnagar district with support of WASSAN and CSA during December"04 –April "05, covering 350 farmers growing red gram in 400 acres in 12 villages. The farmers could save more than Rs. 1500/acre on pest management.

The successful grounding of NPM during 2004-05 has given important learning on how any ecologically sound and economically benefiting technology can be scaled up by providing proper institutional support. Based on these experiences the program was initiated in 9 districts of Andhra Pradesh covering 25,000 acres and gradually extended to 18 districts in 2007-08. The results were very encouraging and the response from farmers was enormous. The costs of cultivation could be brought down significantly and in most of the villages pesticide usage has come down by more than 70 %. In the current year the program is implemented in about 1500 villages and plans indicate 5 lakh acres coverage during kharif and rabi.

Grounding the work 2005-06

During 2005-06 NPM was initiated in 450 villages with 23000 acres in 9 districts. All over 9 districts 11766 farmers with 22581 acres in both Kharif and Rabi implemented the program. Sixty two MMS, 150 Mandal level coordinators and 450 village activists are involved in the program. This clearly established that a paradigm shift in understanding pest management both at farmers level and extension system level can effectively tackle the pest problem and also give ample benefits to farmers in terms of savings on input costs, health costs etc. Better quality products from such production systems also fetch a better price to farmers and are highly preferred by discerning consumers (refer http://www.downtoearth.org.in/default20060531.htm). Also, the NPM intervention for the first time shifted the control in terms of production back to the farmer.

Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture 2006-07

The successful grounding of NPM during 2005-06 has given important learning on how any ecologically sound and economically benefiting technology can be scaled up by providing proper institutional support. During 2006-07 more farmers in the same villages and more villages in the same districts and few newer districts joined the program. The program covered 1250 villages in 17 districts covering wide variety of crops from groundnut, paddy to chillies and cotton. Program expanded to districts like Guntur where the pesticide problem is serious and north coastal Andhra Pradesh where the productivities are in general low. The program is implemented in Adilabad, Ananthapur, Chittor, Guntur, Kadapa, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nellore, Ranga Reddy, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Warangal. More than 80,000 farmers are cultivating about 1.8 lakh acres. In addition to pest management, initiations on soil productivity management and seed management have begun on a small scale. Agriculture credit from formal banks was mobilised in 3 districts to the tune of 15 crores.

In addition to NPM, efforts were initiated to establish seed networks so that farmers produce and share their seed. The pilot in Ananthapur has shown good results. In addition efforts are also began to have non chemical soil productivity improvement practices based on the experiences of the villages like ‘Yenabavi" in Warangal which became the first organic village in the state.

The benefits are not only seen in areas of high pesticide use but in areas of low pesticide use. The crop could be saved from the pests and diseases and managed well instilling new interest in the farmers.

The Community Seed Banks were piloted in 12 villages of Ananthapur which showed very encouraging results. The farmers could produce and share seed with fellow farmers at the village level in crops like groundnut, paddy and pulses.

During 2006-07 while the institutional systems are further strengthened focus was also given to specific commodities like paddy and groundnut in Kurnool district, red gram in Mahaboobnagar, cotton in Warangal and Khammam and chillies in Guntur. The marketing links were explored. The NPM products were in demand and could command premium in the market. The local processing and marketing of the commodities have also brought in additional benefits to the farmers.

This scaling up experience in AP has broken the myth that pesticides are inevitable in agriculture and also given important lessons on the paradigm shift in technology, institutional systems and support systems required for sustaining agriculture especially of small and marginal farmers.

Dialogue with mainstream institutions

One of objectives of engaging in scaling up process is to establish NPM on a sizeable scale to convince Agriculture Department and University and Research Institutions that there needs to be a paradigm shift in pest management which is today caught largely in pesticides and GM crops.

Twice discussions were held with the Krishi Vigyan Kendras. During March 2006, after a day of field visit and two day discussions the scientists were convinced and came forward to carry out research and demonstrations on the NPM but the Director Extension, Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University and Scientists in Zonal Coordinating Unit, ICAR were opposing saying there is no scientific evidence. Two NGO KVKs took the lead and continued the work. During 2007 again a discussion was held with KVKs, with Minister for Rural Development taking the lead. NGOs were not present in the meeting and the discussions were led by the bureaucrats in Rural Development Department. The KVKs agreed to work with the women SHGs on the seed production but on NPM only the NGO KVKs continued to work.

During 2006-07, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture has carried out a study on NPM/Pesticide used Non Bt and Bt cotton fields in Warangal and concluded that Non Bt cotton with NPM is more profitable to the farmers and the yields are on par.

A study done by CSA on pesticide recommendations in vegetables showed that majority of the pesticide recommendations by the horticulture department are not registered with Central Insecticides Board which is mandatory. Even some of the recommendations of Agriculture University were not registered.