VIJAYAWADA: Rythu Sadhikara Samastha (RySS) has secured a philanthropic grant of $15 million (`120 crore) from Co-Impact. Founded in 2017, Co-Impact is a global organisation which identifies agencies, governments, and initiatives that have sparked profound changes in the lives of vulnerable and marginalised sections of society, cutting across sectors like health, education and economic opportunities from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Many of the grants are made through Co-Impact’s Foundational and Gender Funds.
Among 601 applications received by Co-Impact from across the globe for the grant, RySS is one of the 10 selected applicants. The grant will ensure that 2.8 million farmer families within Andhra Pradesh and 0.4 million farmers and their families from other States, take up natural farming in this decade.
RySS will undertake master classes, joint workshops for stakeholders and entities across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, while ensuring that their enterprise undertakes necessary measures to address Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
RySS executive vice-chairman Vijaykumar Thallam said the organisation will work towards systemic changes across other States with the help of the grant. “Andhra Pradesh will serve as a catalysing agent for change by collaborating with multiple States across India through a National Resource Agency, while working on policy ecosystems to guide India’s natural farming journey,” he explained.
Co-Impact CEO Olivia Leland noted that marginalisation, particularly towards women and weaker sections of society, prevents systems from achieving the developmental goals required.
Echoing with her sentiments, Co-Impact vice-president Rakesh Rajani said, “Virtually all our long-term and flexible funding goes to organisations led by people, mostly women, rooted in the Global South. They are best placed to lead because they are closer to the action, know their local contexts and have the credibility and relationships needed to achieve lasting change.”
63 MN RYOTS SWITCHED TO NATURAL FARMING
RySS, an State initiative under the Ministry of Agriculture, initiated the AP Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme in 2016. It has steered over 6.3 lakh farmers towards natural farming in 3,730 gram panchayats, by phasing out chemical inputs from farming. As per reports, India can save `124 lakh crore in agri subsidies annually, if natural farming is adopted