Announcements

2nd Meeting of the Working Group on Agroecology-(APIRAS-APAARI-FAO-TAP)

18 JULY 2023; (APIRAS-APAARI-FAO-TAP)
2nd Meeting of the Working Group on Agroecology
In this second online meeting of the Working Group held today (18 July 2023), the participants reflected on ways to enhance functional capacities in agricultural education in the context of agroecology. To promote agroecology at scale, there is a need to have more professionals who can understand, appreciate, adapt and promote agroecological principles to suit varied agroecological settings. 21 participants representing different organisations interested and involved in development of courses on agroecology participated in the meeting.
The meeting had presentations by Prof Rajeshwar Singh Chandel, Vice Chancellor Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, India and Dr Pham Van Hoi, Director, Center for Agricultural Research and Ecological Studies, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Vietnam. The presenters shared their experiences with development and promotion of courses on agroecology in India and Vietnam respectively. Rasheed Sulaiman V, Director, Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP) and Focal Point, APIRAS made a brief presentation to set the context for the meeting. Pierre Ferrand, Agricultural Officer (Agroecology), FAO facilitated the Discussions. Ravi Khaterpal, Executive Secretary, APAARI and Rasheed Sulaiman V presented the next steps for the Working Group.
This meeting was organised by the Asia-Pacific Islands and Rural Advisory Services Network (APIRAS), the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) in close collaboration with the FAO Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations’ Office of Innovation (OIN) through its TAP-AIS Project.
During the first meeting of this WG held on 10 June 2022, the participants deliberated on the challenges in mainstreaming agroecology in the research, extension and education agencies in Asia-Pacific and ways of strengthening their capacities to promote agroecology which could then be supported by both Regional Research and Extension Organizations in Asia-Pacific (APAARI and APIRAS). A summary of the discussions and the specific recommendations from this meeting are presented in the APIRAS-APAARI Regional Brief https://www.aesanetwork.org/…/APIRAS-APAARI-Regional…