At the 4th global conference of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Global Alliance for the Future and Food, GIST Impact and Andhra Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) launched the Executive Summary of the up-and-coming report Natural Farming Through a Wide-Angle Lens: True Cost Accounting Study of Community Managed Natural Farming in Andhra Pradesh, India (full reporting coming in July 2023). 

APCNF is a state-wide agroecological transformation of the farming practices of its 6 million farmers over 6 million hectares and 50 million consumers. It is the largest transition to agroecology in the world, with 630,000 farmers already addressing multiple development challenges: rural livelihoods, access to nutritious food, biodiversity loss, climate change, water scarcity and pollution. This research into Andhra Pradesh’s APCNF program started in 2020 and is the first of its kind to assess the true costs and benefits of natural farming against other counterfactual farming methods, by measuring all major economic, social, and health impacts.

The research used The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food Systems (TEEB AgriFood) Framework: a holistic approach to comprehensively examine food systems and systematically identify links between agricultural practices and human well-being, so that appropriate policy responses can be developed and adapted globally. 

** The full report Natural Farming Through a Wide-Angle Lens: True Cost Accounting Study of Community Managed Natural Farming in Andhra Pradesh, India will be launched in July 2023 **