Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is organizing a two days workshop on “Forgotten Food Crops and Food: Voices of Family farmers under the leadership of women farmers” on 24th & 25th January 2023 at Modasa Taluka Panchayat Office in Gujarat. Participants can share insights and offer helpful advice on the supply chains of the various forgotten foods over the two days. Farmers’ voices will open each session, and then participants will interact under the kind supervision of the research scientists.

The workshop deliberates on the forgotten crops and food from the perspective of small and marginal women farmers, why they had been forgotten, how to address the challenges and ways to improve the market potential to strengthen the supply chain and bring those forgotten crops and food back into the mainstream to ensure food and nutrition security and lessen farmers’ vulnerability to climate change.

The workshop is a component of the Manifesto on Forgotten Foods by Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR) and partners, which is the outcome of an extensive consultation process conducted in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. A coalition of regional research organisations, including Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA), Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institution (APAARI), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), is in charge of this as part of GFAR’s Collective Actions to Empower Farmers at the Center of Innovation, with the support of Crops For the Future (CFF), the Alliance of Bioversity International, and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

As a member of the Asian Farmers’ Association For Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), SEWA contributes to the GFAR Collective Action on Forgotten Foods, which takes specific steps to create a policy environment that is supportive of more sustainable production methods. This global movement unites stakeholders around the pursuit of diversified agri-food systems that help realize SDG1: eradicating poverty in all its forms.

To discuss and connect to strengthen the supply chain market and the production and use of forgotten foods, farmer representatives from nine districts of Gujarat (India) will attend the event along with researchers, government officials, academics, young farmers, and market players.

This webinar will provide an opportunity to build a shared understanding among governments from across the Asia-Pacific region about the policies needed for agriculture to ensure food security, livelihoods and well-functioning global markets while contributing to climate change mitigation and other sustainability goals. With climate change increasingly threatening food security and sustainability growing in importance for competitiveness, the webinar is an opportunity to understand what countries in the region are doing and what more can and needs to be done.

The webinar will begin with presentations of key findings from the OECD Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2022 report, a recent ABARES Insights report on Emissions, agricultural support and food security, and the ADB report Climate Change Mitigation: Policies and Lessons for Asia, followed by a panel discussion among policy makers and experts from the Asia-Pacific region.

Date: 18 January

Time: 7:00 CET

Livestream on: https://youtu.be/Ny22ulqVgJI