The article India’s agroecology programme, ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)’, delivers biodiversity and economic benefits without lowering yields published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

The analyses indicate that the ZBNF programme in Andra Pradesh, India is a rare example of an agroecological transition delivering win–win outcomes for people and nature without compromising agricultural productivity. This supports the growing interest in adopting ZBNF in numerous other tropical countries, although the outcomes of agroecological interventions can be highly context dependent and non-deterministic.

On 64,000 km² the government of India incentivizes ZBNF for 6 Mio farmers.

• ZBNF more than doubled farmers’ economic profits and maintained comparable crop yields.
• In terms of biodiversity, the study shows bird biodiversity outcomes were improved, with the densities of bird species and functional guilds involved in pest control and seed dispersal increasing. This suggests that while ZBNF can enhance biodiversity within agricultural landscapes.
• Trade-offs between bird densities and landscape-scale yields and profit were substantially less pronounced in ZBNF than in conventional, agrichemical-based farming systems, underscoring the benefits of agroecological interventions with aligned protection of natural ecosystems.

The article discusses that the programme would benefit further from a more conducive policy environment, for example, via the creation of ZBNF-specific value chains, removal of subsidies in favour of agrichemicals, and integrating ZBNF into landscape-scale conservation planning.  Policy interventions may be needed to ensure that ZBNF-induced profitability boosts do not result in further agricultural expansion but instead facilitate the protection and restoration of natural ecosystems.