National Conclave on Sustainable Food Systems

The term ‘sustainable food systems’ essentially refers to a process and system of producing food sustainably, keeping in mind issues and concerns such as livelihoods of producers and farmers, environmental well-being, climate change and its impacts, and nutrition and public health. A large proportion of India’s population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. This population is acutely vulnerable to economic and environmental threats and challenges, such as declining soil health, lack of adaptive capacity and resilience, unsustainable production practices, nutritional deficiencies, extreme weather events, crop losses and exploitative market conditions.

But all is not lost. There are initiatives and practices in the country that can guide the scaling up of sustainable agriculture, and can help address these multiple challenges. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) announces a threeday National Conclave on Sustainable Food Systems to discuss the challenges this sector faces, and explore the solutions and the future roadmap

KEY FOCUS AREAS

• Sustainable food systems and soil health (Enhancing soil organic carbon; carbon credits and markets for soil organic carbon)
• Farmer Producer Organisations for sustainable agriculture (FPOs for conservation/biodiversity)
• Sustainable livestock (Emissions from livestock and mitigation options; role of breeds for improved biodiversity, climate and livelihood)
• Safety nets for farmers (Crop insurance; technology and innovation for crop insurance; effective weather forecasting for agriculture; agro-met advisories for farmers’ benefit)

For more information, please write to:

Gauri Arora
Sustainable Food Systems programme, CSE
gauri.arora@cseindia.org