‘Finding a long-term solution’: More farmers turn to ‘natural farming’ amid climate change challenge

Seeking to boost interest in agriculture in his part of southern India, K. Rajendra quit his job running a computer training institute five years ago and now uses YouTube videos and WhatsApp messages to promote “natural farming” to young people.

“Most farmers in this region are aged between 60 and 80. Parents don’t want their children to do farming, and ask them to migrate to cities,” he said.

“Who will take farming forward?” asked Rajendra, 42, as his staff stacked organically grown lentils, rice and spices on shelves at his store in NTR District in Andhra Pradesh.

His work is part of a wider project in the state where about 800,000 farmers, most of them smallholders, have embraced natural farming – up from 40,000 when the state government launched a “community-managed natural farming” scheme in 2015.

Natural farming shuns synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, and involves the use of handmade or organic manure, growing multiple crops instead of one, and no tilling of the land.

In the past, “Rhythu Rajendra”, or “Farmer Rajendra” as he likes to be known, helped students chase their dreams of finding jobs as software engineers, especially in the United States.

Nowadays, he uploads videos of his natural farm on YouTube, runs more than a dozen groups on WhatsApp...

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