The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), Government of India (GoI) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) successfully organized the two-day national inception workshop for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) 7 - cycle project titled “Promotion of Sustainable Food Systems in India through Transforming Rice-Wheat Systems in Punjab, Haryana, Odisha and Chhattisgarh” in New Delhi. The project is part of the ‘Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact India’ program in the four states of Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), GoI is the nodal ‘operational focal point’ in India and MoA&FW is the ‘implementing ministry’ for the project. FAO is the ‘implementing agency’ and the four state governments are the ‘operational partners’ (OP) for implementing the project in the respective states.

The two-day inception workshop was organized in a hybrid mode and was attended by nearly 100 officials from the central and state government departments of the project states, Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutes and FAO regional and country office staff. Government officials from Odisha joined the workshop virtually. The workshop shared the project objectives, components, institutional and operational mechanisms, and strategy to ensure effective implementation of the project.

Ms Shubha Thakur, Additional Secretary (Crops), Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), GoI was the Chief Guest for the workshop. During her keynote address, Ms Thakur highlighted the close alignment of the GEF-funded project with GoI’s ‘national priorities’. She also underscored GoI’s efforts towards the promotion of a sustainable, integrated landscape and efficient food value and supply chains. Ms Thakur also shared that although rice and wheat are important to sustain the food security of the country, it is equally important to adopt crop diversification. However, while diversifying, farmers' income and their food security must not be compromised.

At the inaugural session, Mr Takayuki Hagiwara, FAO Representative in India, highlighted the project’s innovative approach, focused on embedding sustainable farming practices in collaboratively managed landscapes to preserve ecosystem services and global environmental values. He emphasized that FAO would work in close coordination with the GoI and the respective state governments to successfully achieve the project outcomes.

The two-day inception workshop included a series of presentations and discussions for the participants to familiarize themselves with the project concept, implementation strategy and arrangement and annual work plan and budget. It also aimed at developing a common understanding of the implementation activities to be carried out in 2024.

During the first day of the workshop, FAO’s experts from the Asia-Pacific regional office, Mr Sameer Karki, Technical Officer, FAO-GEF Coordination Unit and Mr Beau Damen, Lead Technical Officer, GEF 7 shared an in-depth understanding of the collaboration between FAO and GEF, and the FOLUR programme at the global and regional level, respectively. Dr Konda Chavva, Assistant FAO Representative (Programme) in India, gave a detailed overview of the project. Dr Prasanta Swain, Project Coordinator and National Food Systems Experts, National Food Systems Expert, National Project Monitoring Unit (NPMU), GEF 7, FAO India shared the project work plan and budget including the NPMU field implementation strategy.

Day two of the workshop focussed on project technical sessions led by the FAO India GEF 7 team on project monitoring and reporting, integrated landscape assessment, planning and management, green value chains and private sector engagement, climate trends scenario and sustainable agriculture practices, and 2024 field implementation by partner organizations. Representatives from the operational states also presented their plan for their support mechanism (inputs, farm machinery, extension, crop insurance, market linkage and co-finance) for Kharif implementation for review.

The five-year (2023-2028) GEF 7 FOLUR Impact Program will accelerate India’s efforts to evolve a new model of sustainable agriculture, to transition towards healthy landscapes and ecosystems, providing for the needs of multiple user groups, and resulting in several Global Environmental Benefits (GEBs). Key elements of the project also include the design of policies related to food systems and landscape management. The project adopts an innovative “whole food system” approach. At the core of this model, farmers are supported in managing their farming and livelihood systems in an integrated manner by principles of sustainability, resilience, and agroecology, including locally adapted best practices capable of delivering multiple and linked environmental, social and health benefits.