Pests and pesticides contribute to the major economic and ecological problems affecting the farmers, crops and their living environment. Two decades of experience in Andhra Pradesh on Non Pesticidal Management shows that pest is a symptom of ecological disturbance rather than a cause and can be affectively managed by using local resources and timely action. The emerging new paradigm of sustainable agriculture shows that the new knowledge synthesized from traditional practices supplemented with modern science can bring in ecological and economic benefits to the farmers. The small success from few villages could be scaled up into more than 7 lakh acres (1.5 million ha) in three years benefiting more than 3 lakh farmers (300 thousand). The costs of cultivations could be brought down significantly without reduction in yield. The institutional base of Community Based Organizations like Federations of Women Self Help Groups provides a good platform for scaling up such ecological farming practices. This experience also shows how the grass root extension system when managed by the community can bring in change and help the farming community to come out of the crisis.

The Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture program is implemented by Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty Government of Andhra Pradesh, Sustainable Agriculture Network of NGOs with technical support by Centre for Sustainable Agriculture. Today we have 50 villages which have become pesticide free and 7 villages which have become completely organic. This remarkable transformation shows the way for the future of Indian farming.

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