The World is perpetually grappling to ensure well-being of ever growing population in terms of food self-sufficiency, improved quality of living, sustainable use of resources, and a healthy environment.
Agroecological approaches are recognised globally to offer multiple solutions – enabling improved productivity, diversity and reduced costs of cultivation, besides employment opportunities for rural youth.
One of the key triggers recognised worldwide for this transformation is use of appropriate technologies. Technologies are expected to increase efficiency and reduce drudgery in farm operations and analysis. Introduction of diverse technologies (mechanical, digital, non conventional which are resource saving) seem to be a way of rejuvenating the sector. The technologies could be Farm equipment (Ploughing equipment, seed drills, Intercultivators, weeders, sprayers and winnowers); Digital Tools (Apps for crop monitoring, market linkages, quality testing etc) and Renewable energy equipment (Solar dryers; Bio digesters, Solar pumps, Solar chilling centers).
We invite experiences on technology use covering various dimensions – Are technologies appropriately designed for small farmers who constitute the farming majority? Are they gender friendly? Have these technologies resulted in improved productivity, reduced drudgery, improved efficiency and energy savings? Have the technology use lead to gainful employment for the youth? Have communities innovated and adapted the existing technologies to suit their agronomic and economic conditions? We are also interested in experiences highlighting how women have successfully accessed and adopted technologies and youth got attracted creating gainful employment in rural areas. The experiences shared should focus more on adoption of technologies in terms of their ease of use, investment challenges and recurring expenses of maintenance, rather than technology description.
We invite articles for the December 2024 issue of LEISA India. Kindly send your experiences to the editor at leisiaindia@yahoo.co.in before 25th December 2024.
