Capacity Enhancement
Understand the different gaps identified to build knowledge and capacities in natural farming and engage with the different approaches & solutions proposed.
Find details of Bio-Input Resources Centres, online digital learning platforms, key training programmes, resource persons, and champion farmers.
Currently, India has more than a million farmers practicing agroecological farming but many of them struggle in sustaining it and subsequently are seen using synthetic fertilisers and chemical pesticides in the longer run. Adopting agroecology based farming practices poses many challenges for the farmers particularly such as poor knowledge dissemination, increased efforts to procure raw materials and prepare the farm inputs, lack of market access, loss in productivity in certain cases and high labour input amongst others. Evidently, there is a need for another revolution to bring in another round of behavioural change through strategic interventions.
Capacity Enhancement initiatives are aimed at identifying, creating and facilitating these interventions.
Bio-Input Resource Centres (BRC)
There are plenty of challenges which a farmer experiences in both transitioning to agroecology based farming practises and sustaining it. And one of the biggest challenges is the farm inputs due to the following reasons:
- Exposure to different bioformulations
- Unavailability of raw materials
- Lack of knowledge on handling, usage and storage
- Lack of hand holding support
- Extra efforts required in procurement of the raw materials and the subsequent preparation of bioformulations
- Maintaining the quality of the prepared bioformulations
Thus Bio-input Resource Centers (BRCs) are seen as a solution to the input challenges faced by the farmers.
BRC wll be a single space for knowledge dissemination and source of all bio-inputs applicable to the specific agro ecological zone, operation at a panchayat or village cluster level.
Currently, India has over 100 BRCs across 8 states, supported by more than 10 organisations. The coalition’s team has visited a few and is working towards a few pilots for improved BRCs which would build on the experience of the existing BRCs.
Partners who have successfully established BRCs
Nudge NF - Digitalising Capacity Building
As millions of farmers are practising agroecology based farming in India, there are numerous training programmes around Organic Farming, Biodynamic farming, Natural Farming and other agro-ecology based farming practices. Typically the engagement with farmers around capacity building is usually done in a physical gathering for a few days. There are multiple limitations of such high intensity low frequency processes, especially when it comes to scaling the adoption of Natural Farming and it needs support which can come in the form of digital or hybrid solutions.
Green revolution has been in existence for over fifty years, based on its guidelines farmers have been using certain practises and inputs for decades and giving it up is a huge behavioural change which is extremely difficult for most humans. The key to prevent such reverse transitions is to keep the farmers engaged in Natural Farming for at least 3 years after which the transition is sustained. While providing information digitally might be a good start to engage but it has to lead to community based interactions that would make the engagement last for a few years and NudgeNF aims to come up with solutions around it.
Meanwhile following are some digital training platforms designed for the agriculture community.
Grameen Academy : https://grameenacademy.in/
BAIF : https://elearning.baif.org.in/
Access Agriculture : https://www.accessagriculture.org/