The approach of Access Agriculture to make farmer-to-farmer videos available throughout South Asia was warmly welcomed at a regional consultation for the formulation of enabling policy recommendations and project concepts for innovative agriculture technologies in South Asia. The meeting took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 29th - 31st October, 2018 at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka.
With the theme of “Agriculture Development Depends on Innovation”, SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) organized the workshop with support from Winrock International, Access Agriculture and Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) of Sri Lanka. Fifteen participants from five SAARC member countries and Thailand attended the meeting to jointly plan for a “SAARC innovation platform”. SAC is the first regional Centre established by the SAARC with a mandate for promoting of agricultural Research and Development (R&D) as well as technology dissemination initiatives for sustainable agricultural development and poverty alleviation in the south Asia region.
Dr. Ahmad Salahuddin, Access Agriculture South Asia regional coordinator presented on “Videos for Farmers: making innovations alive” and showcased how the organisation is making an impact on improving agricultural development by using ICT tools and strengthening extensions services across the South.
The aim of this meeting was to identify innovative agriculture technologies, to review the policy initiatives, business models and to formulate policy recommendations and appropriate business model for popularization and commercialization of innovative technologies.
Innovation is a major source of improved productivity, competitiveness and economic growth throughout advanced and emerging economies, and plays an important role in creating jobs, generating incomes, alleviating poverty and driving social development.
The recommended innovations from member countries will feed into a new project proposal for a SAARC Innovation Platform by end of November 2018.
