India Archives - Food Planet Prize

In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, a quiet agricultural revolution is unfolding, led by farmers, women’s collectives, and a belief that the plants and soil already know what to do.

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ANDHRA PRADESH, India.

It is the morning of Ugadi, the Telugu calendar new year for the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In a courtyard in a rural village, a group of farmers and their families are drinking glasses filled with Ugadi Pachadi. The traditional mixture tastes like a contradiction: sweet jaggery, sour tamarind, bitter neem flowers, chili heat, salt, and tangy green mango. Each of the six flavors is meant to represent an emotion that the coming year may bring—joy, sorrow, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise. The ritual is a reminder that life is rarely ever one thing.

In parallel to the new year celebrations, these farmers have gathered to talk about crops, soil, and the coming season. Many of them have spent years navigating the uncertainties of modern agriculture: volatile markets, rising input costs, erratic weather, and soil that seemed to become less productive each year. The conversation eventually turns to how dramatically things have changed in the past decade—in a positive way.

This transformation stems from Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming, or APCNF, an initiative of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, initiated and led by Vijay Kumar Thallam since 2016. Over the past ten years, 1.8 million farmers have joined APCNF. In Andhra Pradesh, they have recruited 61% of all villages and 30% of all farmers. Their goal is to cover all villages and have 4 million farmers in the State by 2030.

“When you count by farmers, ours is the largest scaled natural farming program in the world” says Vijay Kumar. “And it is women,” he emphasizes, “who form the core of this transformation.”

Many APCNF farms resemble layered gardens: papaya trees rising above rows of eggplant, red banana plants casting shade over herbs and beans, climbing beetle leaf vines winding around bamboo supports. Crop residues cover the ground, forming mulch that protects the soil from sun and erosion while slowly decomposing into organic matter.

_{A painting outside an APCNF farmer education center illustrates the preparation of bio stimulants, used to improve soil biology as one of the nine natural farming principles. At the center farmers can visit demonstrations sites or stay on for residential courses. Their on-site dormitories have space for the children of farmers to also stay.}

*_{Rangaiah Mullapudi, the first farmer to adopt natural farming in his village of Erukalapudi (left), with Mr. Gopichand, Senior Thematic Lead at APCNF (right.)}*

The overall impression is less of a single cropping system engineered for efficiency and more of a small ecosystem gently managed by the farmer. While the premise is simple—soil contains all the nutrients plants need to grow—natural farming is also a highly structured and scientifically backed approach. Rather than supplying crops with external nutrients—organic or synthetic—natural farming focuses on creating a rich soil microbiome teeming with diverse microbes that unlock nutrients and make them available to the plants. Keeping the soil microbiome healthy increases yields, is better for biodiversity, and helps regulate the water cycle and soil temperature.

Natural farming is grounded in nine ecological principles that facilitate a rich soil microbiome. These include not tilling the soil and keeping the soil continuously covered with crops for all 365 days of the year. Planting a diverse range of crops is crucial, as is the rule of no chemical inputs. Farmers prepare bio stimulants using cow dung and other farm materials and apply other plant-based mixtures to deter pests. Methods such as Pre Monsoon Dry Sowing (PMDS) further optimize nutrient delivery to crops and enable farmers to harvest produce during the dry season, when resources are typically scarce.

For some observers encountering a natural farming system for the first time, its simplicity can be surprising. The techniques are based on modern science, but they have been converted to farmer friendly practices, explains K Gopichand, Senior Thematic Lead for Transformation at APCNF. “Natural farming,” he says, “is a vast subject—you can keep digging into it.

For many farmers, the shift toward natural farming began not with environmental ideals but with immediate personal concerns. Across India’s chemically intensive farming regions, farmers often talk about the physical toll of pesticide use.

“When we sprayed chemicals,” Suvarna Tejaswini Chintha of Kolakaluru village recalls, “the smell stayed in our heads. You would feel dizzy after working in the fields.”

Other farmers developed skin problems, and many of the women expressed general concern for their family’s health.

Economic pressure also played a role. Chemical agriculture demands a steady stream of purchased inputs, including fertilizers, pesticides, hybrid seeds, and irrigation systems that are often financed through loans, the cost of which increase over time. As soils degrade and pests develop resistance, farmers need increasing amounts of these inputs just to maintain yields.

“Farmers first change for their health,” Vijay Kumar explains. “The second reason is economics.”

Natural farming inputs are either homegrown or at the very least low cost, meaning farmers save on the avoided purchase of expensive chemical inputs. That, combined with the higher and more stable yields associated with natural farming, results in higher net incomes for farmers. Chintha shares how with her increased income, she was able to invest in her family´s education by sending her children to a better school. “And with some money remaining, I was also able to buy a small piece of gold jewelry,” she adds with a smile.

The origins of change

Vijay Kumar didn’t originally set out to transform agriculture. In the early 2000s he worked with women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) across Andhra Pradesh—community savings networks in which members contribute small amounts that others can borrow in times of need, while empowering women with knowledge and support systems. Over time the network grew to include 8.5 million women (90% of rural women) in Andhra Pradesh, forming one of the largest grassroots financial systems in the world. The work in Andhra Pradesh inspired work across the country and today in India 100 million rural women are organized.

As time passed, Vijay Kumar also saw how economic vulnerability was deeply wedded to agricultural loans. During one meeting with members of SHGs, a woman asked him, “We are not making any money, can you do something?” The business of agriculture, they told him, simply was not working anymore. Costs were increasing, profits were disappearing.

_{Farmer Suvarna Tejaswini Chintha (left) walks in a kitchen garden with Vijaya Kumari Gummadi, a Natural Farming Associate and Community Resource Person. The CRP forms a crucial role in supporting farmers practicing natural farming.}

*_{Getting people together: Women’s Self-Help Groups are at the heart of APCNF’s knowledge sharing and capacity development strategy.}*

Closer examination of the numbers revealed the scale of the problem: roughly seventy percent of loans within SHGs were going toward agriculture. “If farming remained unprofitable,” Vijay Kumar explains, “entire communities would remain fragile.”

Vijay Kumar began searching for alternatives, coming across natural farming practices already tested by a few NGOs in India. In one case, the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, an NGO led by Dr. Sanghi had successfully introduced non-chemical pest management in a single village—but it had taken them eight years to make that change.

“The technology is not complicated,” Sanghi told Vijay Kumar. “Getting people together is more difficult.” Organizing communities, Vijay Kumar realized, was exactly what the women’s self-help group network already did. “Getting people together is our strength,” he replied.

Drawing on networks of SHGs already active across the state, Vijay Kumar envisioned a model that combined ecological principles with local social structures, allowing farmers themselves to drive change. Women, smallholders, and landless farmers were to be the focus, to change the narrative around who the face of farming leadership could and should be.

A bottom-up, top-down transition

SHGs became the logical choice for disseminating knowledge about natural farming. The groups could act as a communication pipeline, a space where the earliest adopters of natural farming could share their experiences and encourage other families to follow in their steps.

“If one woman tried something and it worked,” Vijay Kumar says, “ten others would try it the next season.”

SHGs already formed federations within villages. The next challenge was finding a means to join the dots between different villages, and to connect them all with APCNF at large. In this way, the growing knowledge about natural farming could flow in multiple directions. As Kumar explains it, “We needed a bridge—a human connector.”

The idea for a structured network of Community Resource Persons (CRPs) was thereafter born. CRPs are farmers demonstrating best practice, identified and trained by APCNF to support the different stages of the transition to natural farming. They join SHG meetings, supply educational materials and videos, and typically establish demonstration plots in villages where they practice natural farming themselves. By being selected from within the communities they support, CRPs carry credibility in a way regular government agents may lack. When neighbors see CRPs cultivate crops without chemical inputs, it builds the confidence needed for them to try the approach on their own land. The CRPs are in regular communication with APCNF’s district offices, allowing them to report back on what is happening on the ground and what is needed.

_{Farmers prepare bio stimulants (top) and present seeds that have been subsequently precoated ahead of planting (bottom.) Natural farming inputs are designed to use readily available ingredients and, crucially, remain free of costly and harmful chemical pesticides and fertilizers.}

As natural farming spreads within a village, extra layers of the APCNF system are organically added. Vijaya Lakshmi Tadiboyina has been practicing natural farming for 5 years, successfully cultivating over 86 varieties of plants on her 1.2 hectare plot. She can now meet both her family’s needs and sell additional produce for a small premium. In 2024 she used her saved income to open a Bio Resource Centre (BRC), where she produces and sells natural farming inputs. Not all farmers have the means or motivation to create the inputs themselves, so these centers remove this barrier to entry. Tadiboyina explains how just the prior evening, one SHG member finally persuaded her husband to buy some products and “give natural farming a go” in their kitchen garden.

Fostering a spirit of innovation and experiential learning are also core tenets of APCNF. All farmers are encouraged to make experimentation a regular feature of their natural farming practice. In training plots and village fields, farmers consistently gather to examine soil, compare planting methods, and discuss the results of experiments conducted on their own land.

In tandem, the affiliated Indo-German Global Academy for Agroecology Research and Learning (IGGAARL Academy) invites interested farmers to enroll into a ‘Farmer Scientist’ course. Farmers take part in agricultural courses over eight semesters and formalize their homegrown experiments into research theses that can be shared more widely, investigating some of the most pressing farming issues in India. Farmers at the Academy are referred to as “Farmer Scientists,” a term emphasizing the legitimacy of their work, and that the process of experimentation is not confined to laboratories or research institutes.

“All farmers are scientists,” Vijay Kumar says, “but most scientists don’t farm.”

_{5 years of natural farming: Vijaya Lakshmi Tadiboyina (right) and her daughter Mounika Tadiboyina (left) with one of their two family cows. Cow urine and dung can be used as bio stimulants in natural farming practices.}

One such Farmer Scientist is Prudhvi Raj Dusari , a tenant farmer. Checking the Brix value (total dissolved solids) of the leaf sap, he makes meticulous notes in his journal. Dusari has been a student of the IGGAARL Academy since 2023. “My dream,” he says, “is to one day own my own plot of land where I can practice and share the benefits of natural farming. And ultimately, transform my whole village!”

This careful system of organization, weaving together both bottom-up and top-down leadership, remains one of the most striking features of APCNF. The program is funded and implemented by Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), a state backed non-profit, but has remained centered on continuously developing capacity at a grassroots level. Political will and finance combine with community trust and mobilization to form a recipe for change.

Today APCNF encompasses 3.5 million women organized into 340,000 SHGs, 12,825 village SHG federations, 10,000+ CRPs, 1000+ Farmer Scientists, 2000+ BRCs and a network of 11,000 demonstration farms.

While the program´s focus remains on Andhra Pradesh, APCNF also supports farmer networks in 22 other Indian states. With the blueprint in hand, the plan is for their reach to grow. “If we solve India’s problems, then we have solved 20% of the world” says Vijay Kumar. International interest has been sparked, with delegations from 58 countries visiting APCNF. RySS is also supporting natural farming projects in Sri Lanka, Zambia and Indonesia.

_{Farmer Scientist Prudhvi Raj Dusari (left) and District Point Person Shaik Mohammad Basha (right) measuring the Brix value of crops. Continuous experimentation by farmers is widely encouraged by APCNF.}

Healthy soils, healthy people

The results of natural farming systems appear profoundly in soil and plant health. Farmers describe the transformation physically: compacted ground becomes crumbly, organic matter builds up, and fields retain moisture longer. Healthier soils support more insects and microorganisms, which help regulate pests naturally. Water use can drop by as much as half thanks to improved soil moisture retention. Earthworm populations, farmers say, return in abundance—some studies have recorded increases of up to sevenfold. Partial benefits start to appear from the first year of switching to natural farming systems, and full benefits in four to six years, rippling through the wider ecosystem.

*_{A farmer´s best friend: the return of earthworms is a sign of improved soil health.}*

As plant health improves, crops become more resilient to drought, heavy rain, and disease. The proof is tangible: when Cyclone Montha struck Andhra Pradesh in October 2025, hundreds of thousands of hectares of cropland farmed using conventional chemical methods lay devastated. In contrast, neighboring plots, with the same seed varieties and soil type, but employing natural farming methods, stood undamaged, thanks to their more developed root systems and improved ability to absorb water. Farmer Scientist Dusari recounts how he and his wife went to sleep confidently on the eve of the storm. “As I have been practicing natural farming for three years, I believed the field would be fine” he says. The couple awoke to find their crops intact.

Increasing access to natural farming produce has several health benefits that stand to counter malnutrition and non-communicable diseases in the region. As such, APCNF is actively building demand for natural farming produce by linking farmer markets with programs focused on nutrition education. As Monica Sivangula a district health and nutrition anchor explains, village food committees map the needs of households and run campaigns that emphasize the nutrition benefits of natural farming produce. As awareness grows, so does the willingness to change diets away from ultra processed and chemically farmed foods, helping reinforce a direct local production to local consumption loop. Based on a study conducted by APCNF across 247 villages, 87% of households now consume five to seven food groups daily, a significant improvement from the earlier three to four food groups per day.

Back in the courtyard, everyone has drained their glasses of Ugadi Pachadi. Farmers start to walk on to their fields, barefoot, as a sign of respect to the earth. They continue discussing seeds, weather, and the coming season. Ugadi Pachadi’s symbolism, with its balance of sweetness and bitterness, feels fitting here, in a landscape where the future of agriculture is unfolding slowly, field by field, conversation by conversation, experiment by experiment.

“These women,” says Vijay Kumar, “are going to save humanity.”

*_{Praveena Perumoni (right) presents nursing mother Sandhaya Tellamekala (left) with a basket of natural farming produce, a part of APCNF´s village nutrition program.}*

Words by the Food Planet Prize team.

Photos by Isabel Baudish and APCNF

Asia’s agrarian community is leading the way for climate resilience in a widescale project for carbon removal.

Claiming to be the foremost innovator in this sphere, Varaha has mobilized over 140,000 smallholder farmers across one million acres through four pioneering nature-based pathways: Regenerative Agriculture, Afforestation (ARR), Biochar, and Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW).

Varaha places smallholder farmers at the core of each project, working to integrate local farming economies into the global voluntary carbon market. By sequestering carbon and diversifying farmers’ income streams, the initiative says it offers both environmental and economic returns to participating communities. Under its Regenerative Agriculture initiatives, Varaha advocates for sustainable practices such as Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), residue incorporation, cover cropping, drip irrigation and reduced tillage. Designed to enhance soil organic carbon levels and minimize fertilizer dependency, the initiative’s mission is to enable farmers to transition to climate-smart agriculture by providing them both technical and financial assistance.

*_{Women farmers harvest ripe coffee cherries under a thriving agroforestry canopy, demonstrating how tree-based systems restore biodiversity while strengthening rural incomes.}*

The Kheyti project already spans 800,000 acres and reaches 77,000 farmers through various implementation partners and its financing is anchored by one of the largest soil carbon deals in the world, backed by Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers. To ensure the integrity of their approach, Varaha partners with institutions like the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, National Rice Research Institute, and IIT Kharagpur to calibrate biogeochemical models to quantify buildup in soil organic carbon.

As part of an important afforestation plan, Varaha aims to transform barren and low-output lands into thriving agroecological systems, boosting food security without disrupting existing agricultural practices. The initiative introduces diverse fruit and nut-bearing species, ranging from mango and guava to the endangered Himalayan yew and red sanders, promising yields over the next 20 years and more. Farmers receive 100% of revenue from the low-emission produce, which garners a premium in the market along with a share of carbon income. This income from fruiting trees can increase household earnings tenfold, while carbon is sequestered in woody biomass and root systems. a share of carbon income.

In areas like the Banni grasslands and nearby community lands of Gujarat and Rajasthan, Varaha says it has empowered pastoralist Maldhari communities to reclaim degraded ecosystems, removing invasive species and converting them into biochar and restoring grassland health through the largest community-led artisanal biochar project in the world. Alongside this artisanal work, Varaha also operates industrial-scale carbon removal using high-tech gasification systems that convert waste agricultural residues and invasive species into high-quality biochar. This process generates energy that replaces LPG and supplies nearby farmers with biochar to improve soil health, while reducing emissions from unmanaged biomass.

*_{A farmer holds biochar-enriched soil beside young shrubs, illustrating the integration of biochar into field practices to improve soil structure and lock carbon away for centuries.}*

Through partnerships with local NGOs, Varaha provides training in regenerative agriculture and agroforestry practices. According to the initiative, to date, the artisanal project that Varaha leads has created over 450 full-time jobs and engages more than 9,500 farmers across 230 communities, many of whom are women, indigenous, or from tribal groups. This community-level engagement supports a transition from high-input, low-resilience farming toward long-term, sustainable land stewardship.

Varaha believes that its mission is more than empowering smallholders and farmers to face the challenges of the climate crisis; its efforts to change the landscape of carbon removal are redefining the future of sustainable agriculture in Asia.

Learn more about Varaha.

Written by Gilly Smith
Photos provided by Varaha.

Modern agriculture feeds the world, but at a cost the planet can no longer bear. In India, more than 120 million smallholder farmers face the daily realities of soil degradation, rising input costs, and climate volatility. What if the solution isn’t more chemicals, but smarter biology?

Founded in 2016, the Indian initiative BioPrime AgriSolutions reimagines how we grow food, using nature’s own chemistry to improve productivity, resilience, and sustainability. Rather than fighting biology with synthetic inputs, BioPrime works with it, offering farmers advanced biologicals made from plant-derived molecules and beneficial microbes.

*_{The founders of BioPrime AgriSolutions – scientists turned entrepreneurs}*

At the core of its innovation are two discovery platforms: SNIPR, for identifying signaling molecules that activate specific plant responses, and BioNexus, the country’s largest collection of plant-associated microbes. These tools allow BioPrime to create targeted, high-performance agri-inputs that solve persistent challenges. For example, Phosphonexus helps unlock phosphorus bound in Indian soils, Trichonexus protects against soil-borne diseases, and Nutrimax boosts nutrient efficiency while improving soil organic carbon.

Unlike conventional biostimulants, which often rely on generic ingredients like seaweed or amino acids, BioPrime says their products are science-led and problem-specific. According to the initiative, their products have resulted in up to 25% reduction in fertilizer use, 40% fewer fungicide sprays, and 20–40% yield gains. In Uttar Pradesh, BioPrime’s solutions helped over 2,000 potato farmers achieve strong harvests despite high disease pressure.

But BioPrime is not just about lab breakthroughs, it’s about impact on the ground. Through farmer cohorts, on-field demos, and peer-led adoption models, it ensures that innovations reach those who need them most. In 2023, during a historic El Niño heatwave, farmers in Maharashtra who had previously lost entire crops reported record profits, crediting BioPrime’s biologicals for their resilience.

The company’s solutions are designed to scale. They work across a wide range of soils, climates, and crops, from turmeric and ginger to rice and vegetables. Products are shelf-stable, compatible with conventional inputs, and easy to localize for different geographies. With pilot programs in Brazil, the US, and Southeast Asia, BioPrime is positioning itself as a global player in climate-resilient agriculture.

According to the initiative, they aim to reduce synthetic fertilizer use by up to 2 million tons, cut pesticide use by over 10 million liters, and increase soil organic carbon by at least 18% across millions of hectares by 2035. In addition to lowering emissions, these changes will build healthier soils, cleaner water, and more nutritious food.

In the face of climate disruption and ecological strain, BioPrime is proving that the future of farming can be intelligent, inclusive, and rooted in the living systems beneath our feet.

Learn more about BioPrime AgriSolutions.

Written by Sarah Souli
Photos provided by BioPrime

Industrial agriculture has left behind broken soils, polluted waters, and fragile rural economies. But in Andhra Pradesh, India, a quiet revolution is underway, one that puts farmers, not chemicals, at the center of resilience. The Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming (APCNF) initiative is redefining what it means to grow food in harmony with nature, at scale. It is demonstrating that adequate, diverse, safe and nutritious food can be grown without even one gram of synthetic fertilizers.

Launched in 2016 by Andhra Pradesh’s government through the state-run entity Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), APCNF is one of the world’s largest people-led transitions to agroecology. Their goal is ambitious: to shift six million farmers, organized through 845,000 women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs), across five million hectares into chemical-free, regenerative natural farming by 2035. According to the initiative, as of October 2025, over 1.29 million farmers (21.5% of the state’s farmers) across 8,168 villages (61% of the state’s villages) have joined the movement. APCNF says that a unique feature of the initiative is that participating farmers’ incomes rise significantly even in the first year of transition.

_{Farmer N Srinivas Reddy and farmer Radhamma with a harvest of different vegetables from their 1.18-acre A grade model in the Eddulapalli village of the Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh. Photo by the APCNF team.}

APCNF draws on modern soil microbiome science, indigenous knowledge, and grassroots women’s leadership to build resilient, biodiverse farms that thrive without synthetic inputs. The model is anchored in nine ecological principles, from continuous green cover and minimal soil disturbance to multi-species intercropping and Pre-Monsoon Dry Sowing (PMDS). At the heart of the initiative are 231,000 women’s SHGs, 10,000+ farmer-trainers, and a network of 11,000 demonstration farms. These local institutions drive adoption through peer learning, contextualized innovation, and shared ownership. Farmers are mentored through every stage of transition, transforming villages into agroecological hubs.

*_{Nutrition counselling at a Farmer Nutrition School (FNS) in Adireddy palli, YSR Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. Photo by the Health and Nutrition team of APCNF.}*

The impacts ripple across the food system. According to the initiative, soils under Natural Farming (NF) have been revived, with a seven-fold increase in earthworm populations and restored microbial activity. Water usage has dropped by up to 50%, thanks to mulching, root zone moisture retention, and ecosystem mimicry. Fields have become carbon sinks, emitting up to 90% less greenhouse gases. NF farms host 55% more birds and 60% more beneficial insects, while year-round intercropping boosts resilience, income, and biodiversity.

And it’s not just the land that’s healing. According to the initiative, in 247 study villages, 87% of households now consume 5-7 food groups daily, a significant improvement from the earlier 3-4 food groups per day. Maternal and child nutrition indicators are improving, and women farmers are regaining agency over seeds, markets, and livelihoods. Through APCNF’s A-grade models, Any Time Money models, and decentralized input-output enterprises, the initiative says its work has resulted in 40% higher net incomes, stable or improved yields, and real climate resilience.

With pilots in 23 Indian states and support extended to Zambia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, APCNF is already shaping a global conversation on systemic agricultural transformation. Its strength lies in its simplicity and scalability, making it uniquely suited for many countries throughout the world. By working with natural systems, APCNF, together with its Indo German Global Academy for Agroecology Research and Learning (IGGAARL), offers more than a farming model. It offers a living blueprint for regenerative food futures that prioritize farmers, ecosystems, and public good. In a fragmented world chasing silver bullets, APCNF proves that transformation can be rooted, inclusive, centered around women farmers and led by those closest to the land.

Learn more about APCNF.

Written by Sarah Souli
Photos provided by APCNF

Around the world, farmers face a difficult dilemma: protect their crops with chemical pesticides and risk harming ecosystems, or face devastating losses from pests. But what if farmers didn’t have to choose? AI-GENIX International Pvt Ltd is reimagining crop protection through artificial intelligence and insect behavioral science, all without toxic chemicals.

Launched in 2019 and based in Mumbai, AI-GENIX is introducing a suite of precision pest management tools that aim to radically reduce pesticide use while increasing crop yields and protecting pollinators. Their core innovation lies in behavior-based, species-selective pest control systems designed to eliminate harmful insects without affecting beneficial ones.

_{The BraveHawk Monza set up in a Japanese Corn Field}.

The company’s Smart Insect Communication Systems form the backbone of its approach. Its entry-level SmartRavager series mimics specific sensory cues, like light frequencies and visual patterns, to attract and trap over 1,200 pest species active at night. These devices intentionally exclude cues that attract beneficial insects, maintaining ecological balance.

Building on this, the BraveHawk series uses AI and advanced sensors to detect, identify, and manipulate pest behavior in real time. Once pests are detected, the system emits carefully calibrated acoustic, ultrasonic, vibrational, and light-based signals to attract and eliminate them while actively repelling pollinators and predators. The goal is autonomous, pesticide-free pest control that’s both effective and biodiversity-safe.

For even more precision, the eBionic series targets specific pest species using narrow-spectrum cues. These systems deploy pheromones, kairomones, and optical or acoustic signals to attract and eliminate pests such as locusts or beetles. Non-toxic traps or electric grids do the rest, allowing for residue-free farming without collateral damage to the ecosystem.

AI-GENIX also offers tools for soil and seed protection using electromagnetic wave systems, along with a simple non-powered trap for crawling pests. All products are designed to be reusable, low-maintenance, and highly selective, with safety rates for beneficial insects claimed to be as high as 99.99%.

According to the initiative, their solutions collectively reduce crop protection costs by up to 70%, cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 525 kg CO₂e per hectare per year, and improve yields by 30% to 40%. The technology is already seeing success in field trials in Japan and China, and is backed by India’s STPI-FASAL Centre of Excellence.

AI-GENIX emphasizes that its systems differ from traditional traps and sprays. Conventional tools often rely on single attractants, target only a few species, and can inadvertently harm pollinators. In contrast, AI-GENIX systems are multi-modal, dynamic, and adaptive. They actively manipulate insect behavior and use artificial intelligence to respond to changing pest pressures, delivering what the initiative calls a true standalone alternative to chemical pesticides.

With only two people on its current team, AI-GENIX has already made an outsized impact. Looking to the future, they have ambitions to support production of residue-free food for over 123 million people, and reduce pesticide-related contamination across air, water, and soil. By turning insect communication into a precision farming tool, AI-GENIX is offering a new path forward for agriculture—one where technology enables farmers to protect their crops, their communities, and the environment, all at once.

Learn more about AI-GENIX.

Written by Sarah Souli
Images provided by AI-GENIX

In India’s vast Thar Desert, water is scarce and the communities living in this sun-scorched land are often ignored. But something remarkable is happening. Amid the sand dunes and cracked earth, people are growing food, restoring ecosystems, and reviving centuries-old wisdom, all while tackling some of the most urgent challenges of our time: desertification, food insecurity, and climate resilience.

Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samiti (GRAVIS), a grassroots organization founded in 1983 by Gandhian activists, is behind this quiet but powerful transformation. Working across more than 2,000 villages in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh, GRAVIS isn’t just responding to these crises. It’s rewriting what’s possible in arid and marginal lands. Their entry point? Regenerating food systems from the ground up.

Unlike interventions that focus on short-term relief or top-down technologies, GRAVIS starts with the land, the water, and the people who know them best. The organization’s core model—farming dykes, Arid Horticulture Units (AHUs), and Silvipasture systems—is built on traditional ecological knowledge, reimagined for a changing climate. Each component is low-tech, community-managed, and ecologically grounded. According to the organization, together, they work with the desert to produce productive, biodiverse, and food-secure ecosystems.

^{A woman is drawing water from her underground water storage tank.}

Take farming dykes, ancient earthen embankments that capture monsoon rain. In an area with virtually no perennial rivers and only a few weeks of rainfall each year, these structures retain precious moisture, prevent erosion, and enable the cultivation of multiple crops. Thousands of dykes have been restored, turning previously uncultivable land into fertile ground. GRAVIS estimates these structures have a 40:1 return on investment, with a lifespan of over two decades. They are climate-smart, cost-effective, and deeply rooted in local knowledge systems.

^{A family harvesting their produce from a farming dyke.}

AHUs are small, diversified orchards with drought-resistant fruit trees planted near homes. These not only provide essential vitamins and minerals in diets that are often heavily cereal-based, but also generate income through the sale of surplus produce. According to GRAVIS, they contribute to microclimate regulation, pollination, and soil restoration. Silvipasture Units round out the model, blending fodder crops with trees to support livestock (still a cornerstone of rural food systems in these regions). With reliable year-round fodder, farmers no longer have to overgraze common lands or struggle during droughts. Milk and meat production stabilize, protein availability improves, and incomes rise.

^{A woman plucking fruits from her fruit orchard.}

All of this is done without fossil fuel dependence, external inputs, or commercial motives. GRAVIS works as a holistic process, incorporating land and community through a participatory model. According to the initiative, over 10,000 traditional water structures have been restored, thousands of hectares of land regenerated, dietary diversity improved, and more than 2.5 million people directly impacted. GRAVIS aims to scale this model to reach five million people and establish a global learning hub for regenerative food systems in drylands. Their vision is clear: a world where deserts can grow food, sustain life, and offer dignity. Not through extraction, but through regeneration.

^{Women drawing water from the newly renovated community pond.}

Learn more about GRAVIS.

Written by Sarah Souli
Photos provided by GRAVIS

Freshwater is the backbone of global food security, and yet 70% is polluted, and 90% of freshwater fish production is biologically unsustainable. Across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, over 100 million people rely on freshwater fisheries for food and livelihood, but small-scale fish farmers are increasingly trapped by poor water quality, disease, and unpredictable weather. AquaNurch, a pioneering initiative by India-based NatureDots, aims to answer a deceptively simple question: what truly makes water healthy?

Launched in 2019, AquaNurch is a digital twin system built specifically for different types of water bodies. At its core is an AI-foundational model that decodes water health and provides fish farmers with hyperlocal, predictive insights, without expensive hardware. Traditional aquaculture tech can cost over $4,000 per hectare—almost as much as a farmer earns in an entire season. According to the initiative, AquaNurch uses up to 80% less data collection efforts, and 83% less energy than standard digital twins, making intelligent water management accessible, scalable, and nature-positive.

^{Villages across Bihar, India are being trained to utilize AquaNurch for assessing and enhancing water health.}

For the 15 million freshwater fish farmers in India alone, AquaNurch offers more than just technology, it offers resilience. Stocked ponds are financial lifelines. When water quality collapses, entire households lose both food and income. By embedding farmers into the intelligence loop, AquaNurch bridges the digital divide, turning low-data rural landscapes into high-impact knowledge ecosystems. The initiative states that over 9,000 farmers are now connected to the platform, contributing ground-truth insights and receiving real-time intelligence in their local languages. The results have been impressive: fish mortality dropped from 30-40% to under 5%, input costs fell by 10–20%, and productivity doubled or tripled.

AquaNurch is also more than just a farm tool. Its modular architecture serves multiple users: Twingills for aquaculture, Twinity for water utilities, and Twinsfera for conservation. The same intelligence that helps a rural fish farmer in India also supports a reservoir manager in East Africa or a fish cooperative in the Pacific. According to the initiative, AquaNurch has collected 8+ billion water datapoints, diagnosed 3.5 million fish diseases, and saved 2.7 billion liters of freshwater. By 2035, the initiative aims to de-risk over 150,000 hectares of fish farms and save over 2.7 trillion liters of water globally.

As freshwater ecosystems face mounting pressures from climate change and urban expansion, AquaNurch provides a systemic solution, turning fishponds into smart, regenerative food systems. It sees water not as an isolated resource, but as the living, connected core of our food planet. With a nature-positive model and a globally scalable platform, AquaNurch is redefining how we think about aquatic foods—and giving water the intelligence it deserves.

Learn more about AquaNurch by NatureDots.

Written by Sarah Souli
Photos provided by NatureDots

A new solar-powered food processor could disrupt the back end of the global food industry by turning damaged produce into nutritional food ingredients.

Smallholder farmers use a solar-powered food processing system to convert cosmetically damaged produce that would normally be discarded into food ingredients. These ingredients are then collected and sold to the food and beverage industry.

India’s Science for Society (S4S) claims that its food preservation and processing technology could transform the entire food chain. Relying on solar instead of coal, wood, or other fossil fuel powered electricity, damaged vegetables, fruits, spices, marine products and milk are transformed at the farm gate without any CO₂ emissions. S4S says that its system has so far prevented 1.8 million tons of CO₂e from entering the environment.

*Sangita Somnath Nalawale is part of an all-women SHG in Bajarshwangi village and uses a solar dryer to dehydrate milk.* Image by Society for Science

The company has already worked with 300,000 smallholder farmers to repurpose post-harvest loss, which has provided a whole new income stream for smallholder farmers and women micro-entrepreneurs, many of whom are not land owners and do not have their own bank accounts. By co-developing a unique financing model with women farmers to leverage financing through partnerships with the Indian government and national Indian banks, S4S has enabled these women to access to land without capital or credit history. Moving women out of poverty means greater participation in decision-making at home, and could help them to get leadership positions in their community.

S4S’s mission is about social impact, and it states that its solar-powered technology is a reliable and cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels. It claims to be solving three challenges simultaneously: By turning produce that would normally become post-harvest loss and waste into highly nutritious food, it is helping to halt malnutrition among women and children, while boosting the income of farmers.

Its work encourages gender equality and promotes women’s entrepreneurship while its integrated food-energy system has contributed to energy and food security. Contributing to job creation, gender equality, and climate resilience and adaptation, it’s a wraparound climate solution with social impact at its heart.

A digital platform further supports smallholder farmers to adopt climate-smart agriculture practices, educating and empowering them to understand the need to build climate resilience. Moving from cash crops to horticulture produce like climate-resilient millet is a vital part of the transformation of agriculture across India.

S4S’s aim is ambition; it says its system can be rolled out across Africa and Asia, repurposing a variety of food and drink categories including milk, pulses, spices, tea, and coffee while supporting smallholder farmers to shift from cash crops to diversified mixed food crops.

Learn more about Society for Science here!

Country: India

The origins of change

A bottom-up, top-down transition

Healthy soils, healthy people

Country: India

Country: India

Country: India

Country: India

Country: India

Country: India

Country: India

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