FAO planned a 12 day district-level training of officers on sustainable agrifood systems in three rounds to cover 130 officers and 260 farmers of six agroclimatic zones of Andhra Pradesh.

The first round comprising of two trainings on sustainable agrifood systems was organized at two different places to cover all agroclimatic zones of Andhra Pradesh, that is, at Bobbili, Vijayanagaram District and Krishi Vignana Kendram (KVK), Venkataramanna Gudem, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. The trainings were organised by the Andhra Pradesh State Seed Certification Authority (APSSCA), which is appointed as a Nodal Agency for implementation of these trainings and facilitated by FAO India. Apart from FAO personnel, resources persons that delivered their research findings and recommendations were from the following institutes:  Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR); Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR); Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA); Indian Institute Millets Research (IIMR); Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA); Indian Institute of Oil Seeds Research; International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR).

Key outputs of this training included:

1. Enhanced capacities of 130 officers and 260 farmers on sustainable agrifood systems.
2. Enhanced participants’ knowledge on Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), conceptual understanding on GAP/organic certification, standards of GAP/organic certification, documentation (record keeping as per GAP standards), institutional strengthening, peer support mechanisms, and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
3. Discussion on the crop-wise curricula specific to six agroclimatic zones (North coastal zone, High altitude Zone, Godavari zone, Krishna zone, Southern zone and Scarce rainfall zone) of Andhra Pradesh up to vegetative stage.