🌱 1.8 Million Farmers. Zero Chemicals. One World Prize.
How Andhra Pradesh built the world's most ambitious natural farming revolution — and earned global recognition for it
🌱 1.8 Million Farmers. Zero Chemicals. One World Prize. On June 2, 2026, in Båstad, Sweden, India made history. The Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming programme — known as APCNF — was awarded the 2026 Food Planet Prize, the world’s largest environmental award dedicated to transforming global food systems.
Selected from over 1,000 nominations across six continents, APCNF stood apart not just as a farming initiative, but as proof that an entire state can reimagine its relationship with the land.
By_http://indiainput.com Desk
A movement a decade in the making
Launched in 2016 under the Rythu Sadhikara Samstha — the farmers’ empowerment body of Andhra Pradesh’s agriculture department — APCNF was built on a simple but radical idea: that farming without synthetic fertilisers and pesticides is not only possible at scale, it is better in every measurable way.
“APCNF demonstrates how nature-positive farming can be implemented across entire communities, providing a scalable pathway for millions of farmers while improving livelihoods, resilience, and environmental outcomes.” — Jury Co-Chair, Prof. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda
Over the past decade, the programme has grown into the world’s largest community-led agroecology movement, reaching nearly 1.8 million farming families and 340,000 women’s self-help groups across more than 8,000 villages.
A network of over 10,000 community resource persons drives farmer-to-farmer learning, keeping knowledge local, practical, and alive.
Nearly 2 million Indian 🇮🇳 farmers move to natural farming – win 2026 Food Planet Prize.
My warmest congratulations!
I have visited the natural farming fields in Andhra Pradesh many times. I have come back very impressed every time. Now the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed… pic.twitter.com/jWYuhh4lR1
— Erik Solheim (@ErikSolheim) June 8, 2026
Vision, leadership, and what comes next
Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, whose political vision anchored this programme, described the award as a historic first for India and declared an ambitious target: a 100 per cent natural farming state by 2047.
The prize was received in Sweden by RySS Executive Vice Chairman Vijay Kumar Thallam — whose relentless, on-the-ground leadership has been the engine of this transformation — alongside Special Chief Secretary B. Rajasekhar.
The $1.5 million prize will fund expanded demonstration sites, country-by-country implementation toolkits, and new research partnerships to keep building the global evidence base.
Long- Overdue acknowledgement
For those who have walked these fields in Andhra Pradesh and seen the change with their own eyes — the healthier crops, the empowered women’s collectives, the farmers who no longer fear the debt trap of chemical inputs — this prize is not a surprise. It is a long-overdue acknowledgement of what was already quietly extraordinary. Congratulations to every farmer, every woman’s self-help group, every community trainer, and every visionary who made this possible.
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