The leader of the Community Managed Natural Farming (CMNF) programme Vijay Kumar explains the Social Capital side of the story, and how women’s groups were a central part of the success of CMNF, now recognised worldwide as a model of agricultural transformation. The CMNF initiative has mobilised over a million farmers in five years to take up a revolutionary practice of agroecological farming, with a social base in thousands of women’s self-help groups. Reflections are provided by members of the Rural Women's Assembly in Southern Africa.