Kuppam goes green: Naidu’s Constituency Kuppam embraces organic farming
Kuppam constituency, which elected Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for eight times to the Assembly, is all set to become an ‘Organic Kuppam’. Mostly rainfed, the constituency has 60,000 land holdings, aggregating 25,500 hectuares, distributed among 47,200 farmers.
Naidu will formally launch the programme at Seegalapalli village. The Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, which is driving natural farming in the State, will sign memoranda of understanding with stakeholders at the event.
The programme is aimed at transitioning the entire Kuppam constituency in the State to natural farming in the next five years. “Already, 35-40 per cent of villages in the constituency practice natural farming. This is the first time such an initiative has been attempted in any constituency. We would also like to take this initiative to other places,” Vijay Kumar Thallam, Executive Vice-Chairman of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming, told businessline.
“We will talk to every single farmer in the constituency and convince them to shift to natural farming,” he said.
The APCNF targets to bring at least 70 per cent of farmers, 50 per cent of the cultivable land and 20 per cent of fallow land of the constituency into the natural farming by 2028-29. It would replicate the successful model of grooming and promoting self-help groups (SHGs) as it rolls out the programme.
Increase productivity
“Our aim is to increase productivity, reduce the cost of cultivation and higher margins through value addition. The constituency has some unique advantages. It is close to Bengaluru, Chennai and Tirupati,” he said.
To tap the huge demand for vegetables and horticultural produce in these cities, the RySS will promote the cultivation of vegetables, floriculture, groundnut, paddy sericulture. He said natural farming advocates for minimal external input. “We are telling farmers to add 5 per cent organic inputs. Thallam explains that natural farming focuses on triggering soil biology. Farmers are advised to grow diverse crops throughout the year, as plants nourish the soil, and not the other way around.
He said the farmers will get market access to find consumers for their products. “We are going to partner with major brands like NCOL (National Co-operative Organics Limited), 24 Mantra, Phalada, and BigBasket to establish strong marketing channels for organic produce from Kuppam,” he said.
The RySS would appoint two Project Managers (one each for agriculture and horticulture) to supervise the programme.