Vijayawada:England-based University of Birmingham has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), the implementing agency of the Andhra Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme.
The MoU will drive pioneering research and large-scale adoption of innovations in natural farming in India over three years under the leadership of Birmingham university’s Dr. Fraser Sugden. Joint field trials will be conducted with support from APCNF farmer community resource persons to scale up innovations at field sites, where Dr. Sugden’s team has been working with farmer collectives since 2015.
RySS executive vice chairman Vijay Kumar Thallam said the collaboration with the University of Birmingham will enable them to test ground-breaking APCNF techniques related to land and water management in Bihar and West Bengal.
Vijay Kumar said, “We plan to incubate APCNF in as many different agro-ecological conditions in the country as possible. Their implementation and documentation will be supported by North Bengal Agricultural University and NGOs, including the Centre for the Development of Human Initiatives and Sakhi (Bihar). The fusion of institutional and technical innovations is expected to provide a scalable blueprint for smallholder agricultural transformation across India.”
The RySS executive vice chairman said their collaboration with Birmingham university seeks to overcome challenges associated with land fragmentation and resource management, which are common obstacles in regions, such as the Gangetic plains.
