Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) (Andhra Pradesh, India)

| < back
overview:
sector:Agriculture
stimulus:Drought, Precipitation change
impacts:Agricultural production loss, Migration
The CMSA approach replaces the use of chemical pesticides with a combination of physical and biological measures including eco-friendly biopesticides and complements it by adopting biological and agronomic soil fertility improvement measures leading to reduced use of chemical fertilizers. This has significantly reduced the cost of cultivation, the need for large amounts of credit and indebtedness [...]
read more ...
project classification:
project type: natural resource management
project status: implementation running
running time: 6 years
spatial scale: regional
effect emergence: immediate
effect persistence: between 1 and 10 years
 
project costs:
total costs: not specified
initial investment: not specified
maintenance costs: not specified
problem solving capacity and reversibility:
problem solving coverage: high
reversibility: medium
responsibilities:
initiating agent: Resource organisation: Centre for Sustainable Agriculture
executing agent: Non profit entity: Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP)
funding source: Bank: World Bank
additional information:
The model of NPM approach [Non Pesticidal Management] was developed by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and later taken up by SERP for scaling up in other districts with World Bank support.CMSA approach is currently under scrutiny and observation by many agencies. National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture being set up by Government of India is looking at the CMSA approach as one of the key strategies to be replicated at the national level. Many farmer organizations in Andhra Pradesh and other states of India who are facing similar issues and had similar experiences on smaller scale are interested in how to convert CMSA into a people’s movement.
evaluative information:
success factors: Institutional:
leadership and participation of strong community institutions and their federations that own and manage the program
- farmer field schools that deliver extension services
- a menu of technologies options developed with farmer participation and experimentation
- scaling up with practicing farmers as community resource persons [CRPs] who serve as community extensionists
- developing ‘value chain’ investments from inputs to equipment, post harvest and marketing arrangements of produce for development of sustainable agriculture. Convergence with other government programs

limiting factors: availability of technical support, labor intensive

synergies to mitigation: yes: reduced use of inorganic fertilisers

no regret / win-win option: win win

project evaluation: Over 300,000 farmers have adopted CMSA in Andhra Pradesh alone, covering 1.36 million acres of farmland—5.1 per cent of the net cropped area in the state—in just over four years. According to estimates by CSA, 2 million acres (10 % of cultivated area) in AP is covered under CMSA. In 2004, CMSA started on 400acres of land in 12 villages and by January 2009 it had grown to cover 1.3million acres (over 552,000 ha). Currently, over 318,000 farmers in 3,171villages (about 12 per cent of the all villages in the state) are practicing CMSA. The program covers 18 of the 23 districts of the state.During 2008-09, the project covered about 13.81 lakh acres with 3.18 lakh farmers across 3171 villages in 18 districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Mainstream agricultural research and extension institutions and other programs providing subsidies to farmers for usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are still skeptic and more dialogue is needed between the farmers and scientific community practicing sustainable agriculture. The current dialogue on role of agriculture in adaptation to climate change and reduction of carbon footprint through reduction in usage of chemical fertilizershas also started. This augurs for a possible second ‘green’ revolution, particularly for rain fed areas.
contact information:
Mr. D.V.Raidu, State Project Adviser, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty
Huda Building,Hill Fort Road,
tel.: 91-40-23241475
email: raidudv@gmail.com
information source:
1)http://www.csa-india.org/node/6, 2)http://www.serp-ncsa.com/Downloads.aspx/Index