A group of determined farmers from Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh is quietly changing farming norms by managing to reap profits while using cultivation techniques that are less labour- and water-intensive and support carbon sequestration. None of them embarked on this journey as environmental stewards—they took the plunge as curious small-landholding farmers who were consumed by the need to coax their land to yield better because farming is their lifeline.
Srikakulam, a coastal district in Andhra Pradesh, is faced with the threat of multiple extreme weather events such as cyclones and flooding during the monsoons and droughts in summer. Forty-one-year-old Pandurinki Simhachalam, a local farmer from Nedivade village, struggled with conventional farming methods for his rabi crop for more than two years. As a last-ditch effort, he decided to opt for what is popularly referred to as zero tillage method (ZTM). Traditional sowing preparation for maize takes about four rounds of ploughing as opposed to the one-time effort with ZTM, so Pandurinki saved on labour and time. He also earned approximately INR 35,000 at the end of that season—this was about INR 15,000 more than what farmers typically make there. It took very little motivation for other farmers from the area to follow his lead, and today more than 3,750 farmers across the district are reaping the dividends.
