• 6 Oct, 2023
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SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) jointly organized a four-day exclusive training from 25 – 28 July 2023 at Varanasi in India to build the capacity of member states in climate-smart agriculture for sustainable agricultural production. The training on ‘‘Climate Smart Agriculture in South Asia: Technologies, Policies, and Digital Innovation” was attended by as many as 28 agricultural scientists, researchers, policymakers, farmers, and innovators from SAARC Member States of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

This training can be seen as a “Training of Trainers” (ToT), empowering participants to conduct climate-smart agriculture training in their respective countries after its completion. It is expected that the training participants will play a crucial role in their respective countries leading the charge in combating climate change in the agriculture sector.

South Asia is one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world. Agricultural production in the region is severely constrained by extreme climate events whose frequency has increased for the last few years. Climate change has thus emerged as a major challenge to farming systems’ ability to respond sustainably to the increasing demand for food.

In light of these challenges, scaling up Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices has become vital to enable farming communities to adapt to climate change and enhance their resilience to its effects. However, several primary obstacles that impede the expansion of climate-smart agriculture technologies in South Asia are the lack of access to technology, lack of capacity and knowledge among practitioners on technologies, policy and institutional constraints, and the lack of awareness about CSA at local, provincial, and national levels.

Climate-smart agriculture technologies, policies, and digital innovation can help overcome the challenges posed by climate change. In line with this, the C-SUCSeS project of SAARC Agriculture Centre has organized this training to address the climate challenges in agriculture. The training included discussions on building climate-resilient agriculture through adaptation and soil-centric mitigation strategies, practicing conservation agriculture practices, and optimizing these techniques for use by farmers. The discussions on knowledge management and sharing, development of youth, and entrepreneurship with regard to climate-smart agriculture were also discussed in the training. Further, this training was unique as SAC and IRRI partnered to integrate digital technologies with climate-smart technologies in transforming agriculture production and building climate-resilient farming communities. During the training program, interaction with progressive farmers was one of the important activities of the training and it was well received by the participants. Moreover, participants made a field visit to the Indian Institute of Vegetables Research and IRRI’s Lab for hands-on experiences.

A significant aspect of this training is the strong partnership between the Project Coordination Unit of the SAARC Agriculture Centre and the International Rice Research Institute. This collaboration has resulted in a well-crafted training program that enriches participants’ knowledge of climate-smart agriculture, encompassing the technologies, policies, strategies, and latest digital tools used in CSA.

Emphasizing the need, Dr. Md. Baktear Hossain, Director, SAC said,

Climate-smart agriculture is the need of the hour, especially for South Asian countries where the increasing number of climates stresses are becoming more frequent and are adversely affecting farmers, especially smallholder and women farmers.

Dr. Suresh Kumar Chaudhari, Deputy Director General, ICAR applauded the model of C-SUCSeS project. Attending as chief guest in the inaugural session, Dr. Chaudhari made a remark that technologies are at hand but technical know-how of implementation is very important. He stressed the importance of arranging such training and knowledge sharing along with policy influence.

Dr. S K Chowdhury, Deputy Director General of ICAR in India said,

I believe this type of training will be a potential force for the stakeholder to provide very good results.

A distinctive feature of this training was the participation of high-ups of both the organization along with four award-winning farmers and three youth start-ups from different parts of India. Dr. Joanna Kane-Potaka, Deputy Director General for Strategy of IRRI participated in the closing session as chief guest. She said,

The topic of climate issues, technologies, policy, and the term of digital intervention is the most important things we really need for our agriculture now.

Connecting online, she also appreciated the positive results of networking and the C-SUCSeS Project.

The C-SUCSeS project is a four-year joint initiative between the SAC, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and SAARC Development Fund. The project fosters partnership and cooperation between the governments of SAARC member countries, National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES), SAARC, and IFPRI to further the agenda of climate-smart agriculture.

The specific objectives of the project are to accelerate the identification of and scaling up of viable climate-smart agriculture interventions through national policies and programs in South Asia and to set up effective and efficient mechanisms for knowledge sharing, policy dialogue, and cooperation among SAARC countries on climate-smart agriculture. The CGIAR initiative on Digital Innovation, which is supporting this training is generating research-based evidence and solutions to accelerate the transformation of agri-food systems with an emphasis on inclusivity and sustainability. It forms part of CGIAR’s new research portfolio, delivering science and innovation to transform food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis.

Dr. Subhasisa Bal, a young start-up and founder of Surya Seeds Research India shared his experience saying,

This is such a program where we get the opportunities to learn many things and interact with each other.  It has helped us understand the perspective of CSA in South Asia and the global situation. It will help us work together for sustainable agricultural production in this region.

Collaboration, capacity building, and adaptability are key to success in addressing the challenges posed by climate change in the region. This training program serves as a platform to bring together policymakers, researchers, and practitioners, from across South Asia to share knowledge, experiences, and best practices in climate-smart agriculture. This partnership will contribute to the resilience of agricultural systems in the face of climate change in the region.