Motivating youth engagement in sustainable agriculture: institutional innovations in Andhra Pradesh community-managed natural farming

ABSTRACT

This paper highlights ways to address the knowledge–practice gap in the agricultural domain by examining the initiatives of the Community-managed Natural Farming (CNF) Program of the Andhra Pradesh Government in India. The novel initiative to motivate and involve youth known as “Natural Farming Fellows” (NFF), amongst others, has facilitated farmers’ transition to sustainable agriculture practices. As agricultural graduates trained in the mainstream knowledge systems of chemical farming, the NFFs journey entails unlearning and learning with farmers. Through interviews with the NFFs, we suggest that such institutional innovations offer newer pathways in managing sustainable transitions.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural farming
• communities of practice
• Andhra Pradesh community-managed farming
• institutional innovation
• sustainable transitions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Elements of design draw from earlier experiments in inducting young professionals in the National Rural Livelihood Mission. See https://aajeevika.gov.in/sites/default/files/rti_compliace_documents/YP%20Policy%20Aug%2012%20for%20Circulation.pdf

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Deborah Dutta

Deborah Dutta is a Senior Research Fellow at in the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Gujarat, India. She holds a PhD from the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. Mumbai, India. She is deeply interested in the interplay between educational processes, sustainable practices, and socio-technical systems.

C. Shambu Prasad

C. Shambu Prasad is a Professor of Strategic Management and Social Sciences at IRMA. His expertise and research straddle several interdisciplinary fields such as science and technology studies, rural livelihoods, social entrepreneurship and innovations, sustainable agriculture and managing collectives enterprises.