The world’s population is predicted to expand to approximately 10 billion by 2050. It is expected that in a situation of modest economic growth, this will boost agricultural demand up to 50%, in comparison to 2013 (FAO 2017, The future of Food and AgricultureTrends and challenges). Expanding food production and economic growth have often come at a heavy cost to the natural environment. There has been significant decrease in forest cover and biodiversity over the years. Groundwater sources are also getting depleted rapidly. High-input, resource-intensive farming systems have caused massive deforestation, water scarcity, soil depletion and high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

 

A transformational process towards ‘holistic’ approaches such as agro-ecology, agro-forestry, climate-smart agriculture, and conservation agriculture is a necessity. Practices such as agro-ecology, including Natural Farming, result in better yields without compromising the needs of the future generations. They are advocated by FAO and other international organizations.

1. Improve Yield
2. Increased Farmers’ income
3. Minimize cost of production and increase farmer’s income
4. Ensure better health
5. Employment Generation
6. Eliminate the application of chemical inputs
7. Environment Conservation
8. Reduce Water Consumption
9. Rejuvenate Soil Health
10. Livestock sustainability
11. Women’s agency and community ownership for scaling up of Natural Farming
12. Resilience

(Disclaimer: The term ZBNF have been used in some reports and infographics as these studies were conducted when the Andhra Pradesh community-managed Natural farming was termed as Zero Budget Natural farming (ZBNF)).

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