From Bali to Andhra Pradesh: A New Field Partnership to Restore Soils and Farmer Livelihoods

At the end of September, a team from Astungkara Way travelled to Andhra Pradesh, in southern India, to learn from one of the largest farmer-led agroecology programmes in the world. We came home with new techniques, new friends and the beginning of a field partnership with Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming (APCNF) that we are excited to share.

Why Andhra Pradesh

APCNF began in 2015 and is led by the state government's Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, working through women's self-help groups. According to the programme and recent Indian press coverage, it now reaches well over a million farmers across thousands of villages. Farmers use locally made inputs instead of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, keep the soil covered and grow many crops together rather than one.

The programme reports higher farmer incomes, lower water use and healthier soils, and earlier this year it won the 2026 Food Planet Prize. Those figures come from the programme itself, which is one reason we want to look at the underlying data together with its farmers and scientists.

What we saw in the field

Our team of eleven, from Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Myanmar, Canada and South Africa, started at a natural farming bioresource centre in Gundugolanu Kunta, in Eluru district. Farmers and staff showed us how they prepare the inputs that replace chemicals: fermented cow dung and urine preparations such as jeevamrutham and manjeevamrutham, plant-based sprays for pests, growth promoters and seed balls. Local Indian newspapers reported on the visit, and we later toured orchard plots where coconut, cocoa, banana and turmeric are grown with natural farming methods.

A few days later we visited farms in Guntur district. We walked paddy fields where first-year natural farmers had stronger roots and more tillers than their neighbours' chemically fertilised plots. We met a farmer producer organisation that conserves around 150 traditional rice varieties, and a women's group running kitchen gardens that feed families well. One of the clearest lessons was a small demonstration garden that lays out the whole system: live mulch, dry mulch, crop residue cover, bund crops and fermented soil preparations, all in one place.

Common ground with our work in Bali

At Astungkara Way, we work with Balinese rice farmers on Complex Rice Systems, a method that grows rice inside a living ecosystem. Azolla and sunn hemp feed the soil, ducks help manage weeds and pests, and compost rebuilds fertility. Farmers who have made the switch report far lower input costs, and independent research at Brawijaya University found yields held up well, especially in difficult weather.

Both programmes start from the same belief: healthy soil is the foundation of a good harvest and a good life, and farmers learn best from other farmers. That is why the conversations in Andhra Pradesh felt so natural.

What the partnership will do

Together with APCNF, we intend to restore soils by comparing methods that rebuild organic matter and soil life in rice and other crops. We want to improve farmer livelihoods by cutting input costs and making incomes more stable. We will share knowledge through exchange visits and farmer-to-farmer learning between Bali and Andhra Pradesh. And we will share research data, so that both programmes can learn from each other's trials and be open about what works and what does not.

This is the beginning, and we will share more as the first joint activities take shape.

What this means for you

For travellers who walk the Astungkara Trail, this is part of the same story. The rice terraces you pass are working farms, and every journey supports the farmers who look after them. Healthier soil and more secure farmer incomes mean those landscapes stay alive for the long term.

To follow the work and see how walking the trail supports Bali's farmers, visit astungkaraway.com.