The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) have joined hands to carry out Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based knowledge sharing platforms and other agricultural innovation initiatives, to improve productivity and profitability of smallholder agriculture. The officials of SEWA and ICRISAT signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday.
Online courses will be launched for enhancing skills of SEWA members. A series of innovative ICT platforms will be launched aiming to revitalize agricultural extension and education in rural areas and provide better access to knowledge and information by smallholder farmers.
Under the MoU signed between ICRISAT and SEWA, areas for collaboration include: adoption of the Inclusive Market-Oriented Development approach, capacity building and training, gender research, rural livelihoods, natural resource management, village level studies and use of innovative information and communication technology platforms for improving productivity and profitability of smallholder agriculture.