VIJAYAWADA: In a first-of-its-kind programme, the State government will train 11,000 farmers under the Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) over a period of five years so that they can create awareness on natural farming among all farmers in the State.
As part of the initiative, developed to fight climate change, at least one farmer scientist would be appointed in each of the 10,800 Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) in the State. Initially, RySS has chosen 200 mentors from the farmer community to train them. Candidates who have cleared intermediate are eligible for the natural farming course. The undergraduate course will have eight semesters for a period of four years and two months.
The candidates will be evaluated in theory, practicals and research. On the completion of the course, the farmer scientists will be deployed to make their villages climate-resilient and encourage fellow farmers to opt for natural farming.
Speaking to TNIE, ex-officio chief secretary (natural farming) and executive vice-chairman of RySS T Vijay Kumar explained, “Farmers will be trained with the support of Indo German Global Academy for Agroecology, Research and Learning (IGGAARL) in Pulivendula. We want to launch the initiative on July 7 to mark the first anniversary of the institute. We will start with 1,000 farmer scientists this year, so that they will inspire other farmers in their villages to train 50 model farmers in each village. We are trying to tie up with universities in Europe, Australia and the US to strengthen the concept.”
It may be noted that the German government is sponsoring IGGAARL in Pulivendula. It had sanctioned a grant of €20 million for the research academy, the largest grant given by the German government to a single institution to develop farmer scientists.
RySS senior consultant G Muralidhar said, “IGGAARL is currently training mentors in Guntur for seven days. Later, they will be given immersion and theoretical training at the Pulivendula campus.” Another RySS senior consultant Dr KS Varaprasad added, “The course teaches natural farming in the field as well as in classrooms and also experiments in the agriculture field. Candidates will conduct experiments in research methodology. Our aspiration is that farmers should earn Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 per month from natural farming and make the village climate resilient.”