To encourage waste management among the urban class and tackle the growing concerns over pesticide-laced vegetables, Padma Shri awardee and organic farming practitioner Yadlapalli Venkateswara Rao along with his team is giving free rooftop organic farming classes in the city.
Brought-up amid the farming community, Venkateshwara Rao was keen on farming since his childhood.
It was the 2004 farmer distress in the then united Andhra Pradesh that shook the commerce graduate from within. “Everyday, the news reports were about farmer suicides. I then decided to start visiting different districts of the State to research about the difficulties farmers faced,” he said.