VIJAYAWADA: A delegation from Zambia is on a two-week visit to Andhra Pradesh to study community-based natural farming techniques. The delegation includes agriculture researchers from Zambia’s Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, and project functionaries from two community-based organisations—Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre (KATC) and Valponasca Learning Farm (VLF).
The Ministry of Agriculture, Zambia, has nominated Silumesi Mundia and two other training officers to study the Andhra Pradesh Community-Based Natural Farming (APCNF) model. Fr Claus Recktenwald from KATC has brought a delegation of 11 farmer practitioners, and Sr Modester Chansa from VLF arrived with five farmer representatives on Friday.
The KSTC, established in 1974, is a non-profit organisation run by Jesuit priests to promote sustainable organic agriculture in Lusaka County, improving livelihoods and building resilience to climate change.
Since 1984, the Salesian Sisters have been working across four counties in Northern Province, Zambia.
They established the Valponasca Learning Farm in 2012 to train young people in agriculture, providing formal education, professional training, and skills to 529 small-scale farmers.
The delegation reached Anantapur district on Friday, and their visit will continue until June 21. They will practise natural farming under the guidance of APCNF farmer trainers and Anantapur District Project Manager of the APCNF Lakshma Naik.
The State government is also planning to send expert farmers from Andhra Pradesh to Zambia to guide the farmers for three years until this model is successfully demonstrated and scaled up.
Speaking on the occasion, RySS executive vice-chairman T Vijay Kumar said, “RySS is now ready to become a global resource organisation for countries that want to learn natural farming from us and take this movement back to their lands. We are honoured to receive the Zambian delegation since most of them are farmer practitioners.”
He also informed that RySS is collaborating worldwide with various governments, NGOs, and philanthropies, having hosted delegations from over 45 countries.