Sustainable agriculture for a sustainable future is the buzzword in the field of agricultural livelihoods. However, practicing sustainable agriculture at scale remains a challenge, given that there is no shared understanding, nor a common path or vision in transitioning to sustainable agriculture. Additionally, most of the sustainable agricultural practices are knowledge and skill intensive.  In the absence of a concrete understanding or definition of what constitutes sustainable agriculture, a myriad of practices and approaches proliferates at local, regional, sub-national and national levels, which are claimed as sustainable agriculture solutions. 

Given the diversity of geographies and agroecological characteristics of agricultural production systems, it might not be potentially feasible to come up with a one-size fits all sustainable agriculture solution. What is feasible is to adopt agricultural system/​practice that accommodates the two societal priorities of – protecting the environment and producing healthy and safe food.

Agroecology approaches that apply ecological principles to agricultural systems and are centred on the synergetic coexistence of people and nature, is touted as a holistic pathway for transitioning to sustainable agriculture in practice. Agroecological approaches are knowledge intensive and have been adopted through a process of experiential learning, intergenerational knowledge transfer and farmer-to ‑farmer extension. A certificate programme that deals with the science, and practice of agroecology with opportunity for experiential and peer learning would be very useful to build a cadre of ​‘ecologically skilled workforce’.

What does the course offer?

This 5‑day residential workshop aims to bridge the knowledge and skill gap in the practice of sustainable agriculture – anchoring on an overarching approach in the sustainable agriculture viz agroecology. The workshop will provide a foundational understanding of the various dimensions of sustainability in agriculture- this will equip the participants to contextualise the idea of sustainability in their work. Following this the participants will be oriented to the different kinds of farming systems – gain an understanding of the core principles and practice of these systems and their alignment with the idea of sustainability. 

Further, there will be focused sessions on the science and practice of agroecological approaches. This will equip the participants to design agricultural interventions based on agroecological principles. The participants will be exposed to agroecology based agricultural value chains and enterprises. The workshop will also equip the participants to adopt system thinking approaches in designing agricultural interventions.

Thematic Areas 

• Basics of Sustainability in Agriculture adopting a system thinking approach 
• Agroecology: Science & Core Principles 
• Agroecology: Practice & Evidence (indicators & measurements) 
• Agroecology based Enterprises & Value Chains, Designing Intervention

Eligibility and selection process

Professionals with less than 2 years’ experience and those working on agricultural livelihood promotion.

The decision of the evaluation committee will be final.

Certificate of Participation

The participants will be awarded a certificate of participation after successful completion of the 5 — day training.