HYDERABAD: Nearly two decades after Enabavi village in Jangaon district declared itself a “chemical-free village”, Telangana is trying to revive a natural farming movement that lost momentum after its early success.
Enabavi, in Lingalaghanpur mandal, achieved the status in 2006. But efforts to expand organic and natural farming subsequently slowed, even as other states, including Andhra Pradesh, pursued larger programmes.
The state is now attempting to regain ground under the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF). In 2025-26, 61,125 farmers were enrolled and 489 clusters, each covering a contiguous area of 50 hectares across two to three villages, were formed. Another 128 clusters and 16,000 farmers have been added in 2026-27.
The programme is funded in a 60:40 ratio by the Union and state governments and involves Krishi Vignana Kendras, Telangana Rythu Vignana Kendra and NGOs that provide training. Community resource persons are trained through local natural farming training institutes.
A key challenge, however, is access to bio-inputs. The state plans to establish 326 Bio Resource Centres through farmer producer organisations, with 78 sanctioned in the current year. The centres are intended to help farmers, particularly those without cattle, access the inputs required for natural farming.
The Telangana Seed Certification Agency has been authorised as the regional council for certification. The government bears the certification cost of Rs 840 per acre and Rs 2,100 per hectare, with farmers in the programme receiving SCOPE certification for adherence to organic farming standards.
The state has also launched the TG-Organics app to provide farmers a platform to sell their produce. The number of users has risen from 204 to 6,035, according to data from the Seed Certification Agency.
But farmers say marketing remains a challenge.
“We are currently relying on personal contacts and social media to sell our produce,” said Maganti Kumaraswamy, a farmer from Jaggaiahpeta village in Jaishankar Bhupalapalli district.
He has increased the area under organic cultivation from half an acre to three acres on his five-acre farm.
GV Ramanjaneyulu, director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, said Telangana had traditionally been known for dryland crops such as millets, pulses and oilseeds, but had shifted towards paddy and cotton.
The state cultivated more than 7.5 million acres of paddy in rabi 2024 and 4.45 million acres of cotton, he said, adding that both crops are associated with high agrochemical use.
Telangana ranks third nationally in fertiliser use, applying about 247 kg per hectare, while pesticide use is around 900 grams per hectare, according to the data cited by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
Dr G Rajasekhar, COO of the CSA, said government staff had been trained, but implementation would determine the programme’s progress. He said the proposed Bio Resource Centres would need to function effectively and be backed by a review mechanism.
For farmers such as Mylaram Venkataiah of Siripuram village in Jangaon district, natural farming has already produced changes in soil quality, including increased earthworms, microbial activity and organic carbon.
The challenge for Telangana now is to turn such individual experiences and new government infrastructure into a farming system that can expand beyond isolated examples such as Enabavi.
