Report on the Socio-Economic and Biodiversity Impacts of India’s Zero Budget Natural Farming Programme

Introduction: Aligning Agriculture with Sustainable Development Goals

Global food systems are currently failing to meet a range of social, economic, and environmental targets, presenting a significant challenge to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Conventional agriculture is identified as the primary driver of biodiversity loss, directly conflicting with SDG 15 (Life on Land). There is an urgent need to redesign agricultural landscapes to balance the competing objectives of ensuring food security (SDG 2: Zero Hunger), improving human well-being and livelihoods (SDG 1: No Poverty; SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth), and conserving biodiversity (SDG 15). Agroecological approaches are promoted as nature-based solutions to address these intertwined crises. This report evaluates the world’s largest agroecological transition—the Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) programme in Andhra Pradesh, India—to assess its system-wide impacts on these critical SDG targets.

Evaluation of the ZBNF Programme

Core Objectives and Methodology

The study was designed to provide a rigorous, system-wide evaluation of the ZBNF programme’s real-world impacts. The core objectives were to:

1. Determine the programme’s impacts on crop yield and farmers’ economic profit.
2. Examine the effects on bird biodiversity, including abundances at trophic guild and species levels.
3. Assess whether trade-offs between productivity/profit and biodiversity are mitigated under ZBNF compared to conventional systems.
4. Quantify how bird communities in ZBNF and conventional systems compare to those in natural forests.

The methodology involved comprehensive social and biodiversity surveys conducted between 2021 and 2023 across 13 ZBNF, 13 conventional agrichemical, and 26 natural forest landscapes in Andhra Pradesh. Robust causal inference methods, including statistical matching, were employed to control for confounding variables and isolate the programme’s direct effects.

Key Findings: Impacts on Sustainable Development Goals

Economic Viability and Poverty Alleviation (SDG 1 & SDG 8)

The ZBNF programme demonstrated significant positive impacts on the economic well-being of farmers, directly contributing to SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

• Economic Profit: ZBNF increased farmers’ economic profits by an average of 123.6%. This boost was achieved primarily by lowering input costs, as the system eliminates the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
• Livelihood Improvement: The substantial increase in profitability helps alleviate agrarian poverty, a central goal of the programme. These gains were realized even without market premiums for ZBNF produce and in the presence of subsidies for agrichemicals.

Food Security and Sustainable Production (SDG 2 & SDG 12)

The evaluation shows that ZBNF can support sustainable food production systems, aligning with SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), without compromising agricultural output.

• Crop Yield: On average, ZBNF maintained crop yields comparable to those of conventional, agrichemical-based farming. The analysis found no significant reduction in yield, indicating that a transition to agroecology does not threaten food production levels.
• Sustainable Practices: ZBNF relies on regenerating biotic interactions and ecosystem services to support yields. Key practices include the use of microbial inoculums, mulching, and reduced tillage, which promote soil health and long-term sustainability.

Biodiversity and Terrestrial Ecosystems (SDG 15)

The programme delivered measurable benefits for biodiversity, a critical component of SDG 15 (Life on Land).

• Increased Bird Abundance: ZBNF systems showed significantly higher abundances of several bird guilds compared to agrichemical farms.
  • Frugivores (seed dispersers) increased by 160%.
  • Vertivores (predators of small vertebrates) increased by 81%.
  • Invertivores (pest controllers) increased by 49%.
• Support for Key Ecosystem Services: The increase in these functional guilds suggests an enhancement of ecosystem services like pest control and seed dispersal, which can further support agricultural productivity and landscape restoration.
• Conservation Value: ZBNF landscapes supported a greater number of species of conservation concern compared to agrichemical systems, particularly those associated with non-forest habitats like grasslands and wetlands.

Reconciling Competing Goals: Trade-off Analysis

A key challenge in sustainable development is managing trade-offs between economic and environmental goals. The study found that ZBNF substantially dampens these conflicts.

• In conventional agrichemical systems, increasing landscape-level yield and profit was strongly correlated with significant declines in the abundance of most bird guilds.
• In ZBNF systems, these trade-offs were significantly less pronounced. No significant negative relationships were found between yield and bird abundance, indicating that productivity can be enhanced with far less biodiversity loss. This demonstrates a greater capacity to simultaneously advance SDG 2, SDG 8, and SDG 15.

The Irreplaceable Role of Natural Habitats (SDG 15)

While ZBNF improves the ecological health of agricultural landscapes, the report underscores its limitations in conserving specialist species.

• Natural forests host a significantly higher richness of species of conservation importance compared to either farming system.
• Bird communities in both ZBNF and agrichemical landscapes were highly dissimilar to those in forests, with many forest-specialized species being absent from farmland.
• This finding reinforces that achieving SDG 15 requires a dual strategy: making farmland more biodiversity-friendly through agroecology while simultaneously ensuring the robust protection of natural ecosystems.

Conclusions and Policy Implications for Achieving the SDGs

ZBNF as a Multi-Goal Solution

The ZBNF programme in India serves as a powerful example of an agroecological transition that delivers “win-win” outcomes, simultaneously advancing multiple SDGs without compromising agricultural productivity. It enhances farmer profitability (SDG 1, SDG 8), supports biodiversity (SDG 15), and maintains food production (SDG 2) within a framework of sustainable practices (SDG 12).

Policy Recommendations for Sustainable Scaling

To maximize the contribution of agroecological programmes like ZBNF to the global sustainability agenda, targeted policy interventions are required.

• Integrate with Conservation: Agricultural policies promoting ZBNF must be paired with effective area-based conservation measures to ensure that increased profitability does not incentivize the expansion of farming into natural habitats.
• Create a Conducive Policy Environment: Governments should consider removing subsidies for agrichemicals and creating dedicated value chains for agroecological products to further enhance livelihood benefits.
• Landscape-Scale Planning: ZBNF should be integrated into broader landscape-scale conservation and land-use planning to reconcile the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework with agriculture-related SDGs.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

The article on the Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) programme in India addresses several interconnected Sustainable Development Goals by evaluating the socio-economic and biodiversity impacts of this agroecological approach. The primary SDGs identified are:

• SDG 1: No Poverty – The article directly addresses poverty alleviation by examining the economic profitability for farmers participating in the ZBNF programme.
• SDG 2: Zero Hunger – The core of the article revolves around food production systems, analyzing the challenge of curbing food insecurity while ensuring agricultural sustainability. It specifically measures the impact of ZBNF on crop yields.
• SDG 15: Life on Land – A significant portion of the study is dedicated to evaluating the effects of ZBNF on biodiversity, particularly bird populations, and compares these outcomes to conventional farming and natural forests, thus connecting to the protection and restoration of terrestrial ecosystems.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

Based on the specific issues discussed, the following targets under the identified SDGs are relevant:

1. SDG 1: No Poverty

   • Target 1.2: By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions. The article connects to this target by highlighting that a “central aim of the ZBNF programme is to alleviate agrarian poverty.” The study’s finding that ZBNF “increased economic profit by an average of 123.6% relative to agrichemical farming” directly supports progress towards improving the economic well-being of farming households.

2. SDG 2: Zero Hunger

   • Target 2.3: By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment. The article addresses this by measuring both “crop yield” and “economic profit,” finding that ZBNF “more than doubled farmers’ economic profits and maintained comparable crop yields.”
   • Target 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality. The ZBNF programme itself, with its focus on ending synthetic inputs and regenerating biotic interactions, is an example of a sustainable food production system. The article evaluates its effectiveness in balancing productivity with ecosystem health (biodiversity).

3. SDG 15: Life on Land

   • Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements. The study evaluates how ZBNF impacts farmland biodiversity and explicitly states that “natural forests remain essential to sustaining populations of forest-specialized species,” underscoring the need for conservation alongside sustainable agriculture.
   • Target 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species. The article directly measures biodiversity loss by using birds as indicators. It finds that ZBNF “benefits farmland birds” and that “farmland birds have sharply declined in India,” suggesting that transitions to ZBNF could be a strategy to “reverse some of these declines” and halt biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, the article uses several quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure the impacts of the ZBNF programme, which align with the official SDG indicators.

• For SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger):

  • Economic Profit: The study measures “field-level economic profit” in Indian Rupees (₹) per hectare per year. The finding of a “123.6% increase” in profit for ZBNF farmers serves as a direct indicator for Target 1.2 and Target 2.3.
  • Crop Yield: The article measures “harvest-level crop yield” and its energetic value (GJ ha⁻¹). The finding that ZBNF “maintained comparable crop yields” is a key indicator for Target 2.3 and 2.4, showing that sustainability does not compromise food production.

• For SDG 15 (Life on Land):

  • Bird Abundance and Density: The study uses “densities of bird species” and the abundance of different trophic guilds (frugivores, invertivores, etc.) as primary indicators of biodiversity. Specific metrics include a “160.25% increase” in frugivore abundance in ZBNF systems compared to conventional ones. This directly measures impacts on wildlife populations (Target 15.5).
  • Species Richness of Conservation Importance: The article quantifies the “average number of species of conservation importance” in different land-use types (forest, ZBNF, agrichemical), serving as an indicator for the protection of threatened species (Target 15.5).
  • Community Integrity: The study uses the “abundance-based Bray–Curtis similarity index” to compare the bird community composition in agricultural landscapes to that of natural forests. This provides a clear indicator of habitat degradation and the extent to which agroecological systems can mimic natural ecosystems (Target 15.1 and 15.5).

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: nature.com