Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a grassroot agrarian movement and a state backed extension in Andhra Pradesh, and has been claimed to potentially meet the twin goals of global food security and environmental conservation. However, there is a lack of statistically evaluated data to support assertions of yield benefits of ZBNF compared to organic or conventional alternatives, or to mechanistically account for them. In order to fill this gap, controlled field experiments were established in twenty-eight farms across six districts, spanning over 800 km, over three cropping seasons. In these experiments, we compared ZBNF (no synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, home-made inputs comprising desi cow dung and urine with mulch) to conventional (synthetic fertilisers and pesticides) and organic (no synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, no mulch, purchased organic inputs, e.g. farmyard manure and vermicompost) treatments, all with no tillage. Comparisons were made in terms of yield, soil pH, temperature, moisture content, nutrient content and earthworm abundance. Our data shows that yield was significantly higher in the ZBNF treatment (z score = 0.58 ± 0.08), than the organic (z= −0.34 ± 0.06) or conventional (−0.24 ± 0.07) treatment when all farm experiments were analysed together. However, the efficacy of the ZBNF treatment was context specific and varied according to district and the crop in question. The ZBNF yield benefit is likely attributed to mulching, generating a cooler soil, with a higher moisture content and a larger earthworm population. There were no significant differences between ZBNF and the conventional treatment in the majority of nutrients. This is a particularly important observation, as intensive use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers comes with a number of associated risks to farmers’ finances, human health, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution. However, long-term field and landscape scale trials are needed to corroborate these initial observations.

零预算自然农业 (ZBNF) 是一项基层农业运动，是安得拉邦国家支持的一项扩展计划，据称有可能实现全球粮食安全和环境保护的双重目标。然而，与有机或传统替代品相比，缺乏统计评估数据来支持 ZBNF 的产量优势断言，或从机械上解释它们。为了填补这一空白，在跨越 800 多公里、跨越三个种植季节的六个区的 28 个农场建立了对照田间试验。在这些实验中，我们比较了 ZBNF（无合成杀虫剂或化肥，自制投入物包括desi牛粪和尿液覆盖）到传统（合成肥料和杀虫剂）和有机（无合成杀虫剂或肥料，无覆盖物，购买有机投入物，例如农家肥和蚯蚓粪）处理，全部无需耕作。比较了产量、土壤酸碱度、温度、水分含量、养分含量和蚯蚓丰度。我们的数据表明，ZBNF 处理的产量（ z分数 = 0.58 ± 0.08）显着高于有机处理（z= −0.34 ± 0.06) 或常规 (−0.24 ± 0.07) 处理，同时分析所有农场实验。然而，ZBNF 处理的功效因具体情况而异，并因地区和所讨论的作物而异。ZBNF 的产量效益可能归因于覆盖，产生更凉爽的土壤，水分含量更高，蚯蚓数量更多。ZBNF 与常规处理在大多数营养素方面没有显着差异。这是一个特别重要的观察结果，因为大量使用合成杀虫剂和化肥会给农民的财务、人类健康、温室气体排放、生物多样性丧失和环境污染带来许多相关风险。然而，需要长期的野外和景观规模试验来证实这些初步观察结果。