Natural Farming, A Climate Solution in India?
By Sabrina Rose, Jeremy Halstead, Timothy Griffin, and Amy Myers Jaffe
A new Tufts CREATE Solutions report reviews evidence for Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), one of the largest efforts to implement agroecology at scale. The Government of Andhra Pradesh, India plans to expand ZBNF to millions of farmers in the state over the next several years. The review finds ZBNF generally increases farmers’ income, but critical gaps remain concerning climate change outcomes.
The 2021 monsoon season followed an erratic pattern in 2021, raising questions whether it could be harder for India to achieve zero hunger in the coming years due to climate change. India’s climate commitments are linked to policies that promote a prosperous low-carbon economy through renewable energy deployment, clean tech job creation and hopes for robust low-carbon growth. While announcing a commitment to net zero emissions by 2070, India’s current government has yet to unveil its updated Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement or a green recovery strategy for its economy, still trying to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research by Climate Policy Lab indicates that India could create tens of millions of new jobs, fuel economic growth, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050 if it shifted revenues from fossil fuel sales to carbon prices, implemented a carbon free electricity standard, subsidized offshore wind, and supported the build out of an electric vehicle sector. One remaining challenge, however, will be India’s vast agricultural sector.
India’s agricultural sector accounts for 14 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, including its high cattle population, the world’s largest. The country’s farmers are already facing the effects of climate change in addition to the aftermath of repealed agricultural reforms. India’s agriculture sector is in need of pathways to improve farmers’ livelihoods while mitigating emissions and adapting to climate change.
One method under study in India is Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), developed by Subhash Palekar in the mid-1990s and now implemented widely in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. ZBNF, also referred to as Community Managed Natural Farming (CMNF), is one of the largest movements in the world to scale agroecology and has recently received support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The practice consists of four core elements: 1) jeevamrutham, a soil inoculant made of cow dung, urine, pulse flour, jaggery, and soil; 2) beejamrutham, a seed coating made of similar ingredients; 3) acchadana, mulching; and 4) whapasa, soil aeration, as an outcome of the other three principles. Our research discusses the broad range of goals anticipated from ZBNF including socio-economic, environmental, and productivity gains and assesses evidence of those outcomes in published literature.
ZBNF, as defined by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, has evolved from Palekar’s teachings to include regenerative practices such as continuous groundcover and the five-layer model, which is a specific type of intercropping. Key features are the use of natural inputs and, where available, the use of indigenous seed. To be classified as a ZBNF farmer, a farmer must not use chemical inputs or genetically modified seed and must adopt at least one of the core elements of ZBNF. The ZBNF program is aimed to reverse some of the externalities of high chemical input use: soil degradation, water pollution and rising costs to farmers.
Questions have arisen whether ZBNF can offer climate adaptation and mitigation opportunities in India. In the key region of Andhra Pradesh, excessive tillage, deforestation, and imbalanced use of fertilizers has led to soil degradation in certain places, making farmers more vulnerable to climate change impacts such as decreases in rainfall and higher temperatures. ZBNF proponents suggest the practice might increase farmers’ climate resilience by improving soil health and reducing water usage.
One hope is that potential increases in soil water holding capacity and changes in irrigation as prescribed by ZBNF may lead to less water use and more drought resilience, which is key as India looks to adapt to a changing monsoon season with more variable rainfall. There is some evidence from farmer testimonials suggesting ZBNF paddy withstood cyclonic winds better than non-ZBNF paddy. Additionally, as a result of year-long soil coverage and reduced chemical inputs, ZBNF could reduce sediment and fertilizer runoff, thereby reducing eutrophication and improving water quality. However, we did not find evidence to support or refute these claims.
It also remains to be seen what the impact of large scale ZBNF adoption would have on greenhouse gas emissions. ZBNF has potential to reduce fuel consumption, emissions from fertilizer use, and associated emissions from the production of fertilizer and other manufactured inputs. A life cycle assessment suggests a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions could be significant, but empirical data and longer studies are needed to understand ZBNF’s potential for emission reductions.
Though much of the early data on ZBNF are promising, the absence of long-term studies and dearth of field research is a considerable gap in published academic literature and needs to be further examined to facilitate informed policy decisions concerning state-wide adoption of ZBNF. Our review reveals that farmers’ incomes generally improve due to reduced costs under ZBNF, but crop yield appears to vary depending on geography, research method, and sample size, which makes the data difficult to generalize. More comprehensive research which includes multi-year studies that consider farm scale and growing climate are necessary to better understand how ZBNF affects yield.
Preliminary data suggest that ZBNF will not be a blanket solution that will achieve the same outcomes in every location. Identifying the variables which are conducive to a successful ZBNF system is an important next step in any state-wide rollout of these practices and should be a major focus of future studies.
Read “Zero Budget Natural Farming in Andhra Pradesh: A Review of Evidence, Gaps, and Future Considerations” here. ∎
Sabrina Rose is a consultant in climate change and food systems transformation, and a recent graduate of the Fletcher School where she served as a researcher on ZBNF.
Jeremy Halstead is a research assistant at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Timothy Griffin is associate professor in Nutrition, Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems and a faculty affiliate of Climate Policy Lab.
Amy Myers Jaffe is the Managing Director at Climate Policy Lab and a research professor at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.