Comparative study of natural farming and inorganic farming on paddy in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Natural farming and other chemical-free farming techniques depend on ecosystem management to minimize the use of synthetic agricultural inputs. It has been shown that extensive usage of pesticides, artificial fertilizers, and other inputs for optimizing agri-production is required to meet the food demands of a rising population. With the growing food demand brought on by rapid population increase, achieving a balance and sustainable food production is a difficult problem. Taking this into account, an On Farm Trial (OFT) was conducted on the comparative study of natural farming and inorganic farming on paddy in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh in 3 locations at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) operated mandals in Guntur during the kharif season of 2021-2023 on 12 ha of irrigated black soils. The grain yield in natural farming practice of ANGRAU technology, is 32q/ac and APCNF technology is 30.2 q/ac respectively over conventional farming. The study revealed that of natural farming recorded the higher net returns seen in ANGRAU technology (Rs.31675 /ac) and APCNF technology (Rs. 30345/ac) of natural farming practice than conventional farming practice (Rs 29652.5/ac), owing to the low cost of cultivation in natural farming practice.