Vijayawada, June 11, 2021: Organic farming has become a trend in Krishna district. As the cost of pesticides and fertilisers is increasing every year, farmers are now moving back to zero budget natural farming. The district administration and agriculture wing authorities are encouraging farmers to choose zero budget farming instead of modern farming.
Krishna district is considered as the rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh. Paddy and other crops are cultivated in 3.5 lakh acres in the district. Farmers are facing a tough time with increasing cost of production and lesser profits.
“Paddy farming is not at all profitable in the present situation. Cost of pesticides, fertilisers and mainly labour have increased. We are presently investing Rs 24,000 per acre and getting Rs 32,000 if we get a good crop. All our hard work and efforts will get spoiled if crops get inundated with heavy rains. Similarly cost of fertilisers is increasing drastically and support price is not getting revised as expected,” said K Narayana Rao a paddy farmer from Nidamanuru.
Many farmers are showing interest towards organic farming which has zero budget and needs less manpower. The total cultivated area of natural farming increased from 22,000 acres in 2017 to 60,000 acres in 2021 according to the reports published in timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
“We are getting back to the basics and practising farming done by our ancestors. We have now started cultivating a variety of crops instead of commercial crops and it has increased soil fertility. A farmer can take up farm work with less manpower and make pesticides and fertilisers using neem oil and cow dung which almost reduced investment to zero,” said Mallidi Raghu Ram Reddy, an organic farmer from Kesarapalli.
“Though we are getting less yield with organic farming we are getting double the price in the market and organic pulses and rice has huge demand in cities,” he added.
