VIJAYAWADA: Crops cultivated under Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming (APCNF) practices have shown remarkable resilience to successive destructive impacts of Twin Cyclones, with less damage compared to widespread devastation in neighbouring chemical farming fields.
While conventional chemical plots suffered severe crop losses ranging from 40% to 100% across districts due to incessant heavy rainfall, waterlogging, high-velocity gales, natural farming fields sustained 0% to 20% damage, with crops being upright and healthy under identical weather conditions.
In Krishna district’s Katuru village within Uyuru mandal, Collector DK Balaji observed that MTU-1318 paddy grown by chemical ryots Tummuru Sanjeeva Reddy had lodged, whereas same variety by Gujjula Nagaraju using natural farming methods stood upright.
Similar structural resilience was documented in Guntur district’s Tenali and Kollipara mandals, where natural farming paddy and banana crops maintained absolute stability while chemical plots suffered up to 80% damage. This advantage extended across diverse agro-climatic zones across AP.
In West Godavari’s Mogalthur and Pentapadu mandals, natural farming Sampath Swarna and paddy crops remained up to 80% to 90% intact against total crop collapse in neighbouring chemical fields.
Prakasam reported zero uprooting in natural farming chilli fields compared to a 40% loss in chemical plots, while Kakinada assessments revealed higher counts in BPT-5204 paddy. Natural farming paddy and cotton crops withstood 261.5 mm rainfall in Palnadu, Anakapalle, Bapatla, Eluru and Srikakulam districts. AP aims to extend CNF to 60 lakh ryots.