The program, which will be implemented by Agricultural Systems and
Engineering (ASE) and
Regional and Rural Development Planning (RRDP)
academic programs at AIT’s School of Environment, Resources and
Development (SERD), is a part of the USAID program “The Agricultural
Learning Exchange for Asian Regional Networking (AgLEARN).”
The project also aims to establish a virtual ‘Centre of Excellence on
Sustainable Agriculture Practices and Food Security’ at AIT with a
multidisciplinary team of AIT researchers and partner institutions
capable for long-term contribution to enhance food security in the
region. With the establishment of this ‘Centre of Excellence on
Sustainable Agriculture Practices and Food Security’, the project will
contribute to the development of an appropriate technology suitable for
smallholder farmers.
Prof. Gopal B. Thapa of RRDP is the principal investigator of the
project, and other members of the project include Prof. Ganesh P.
Shivakoti, Dr. Peeyush Soni, and Dr. Avishek Datta from ASE academic
program. The project will support three doctoral scholarships at AIT,
one each for a student from Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Nepal.
According to Prof. Thapa, “The proposed project will contribute
directly to two specific areas of strategic investment of USAID Feed
the Future (FtF) initiative in Asia including increasing on-farm
productivity; and increasing investment in market systems and value
chains.” It will assess technical and economic feasibilities of new
technologies in target countries. The target focus will be on improving
overall farm productivity through sustainable agricultural practices
and on high-value low-volume vegetable crops to tap the potential niche
markets.
The project also seeks to build local scientific and technical
capacity through collaborative on-site capacity building activities,
study visits, and capacity enhancement of concerned institutions, and
personnel in the target countries through capacity enhancement of
agricultural research scientists. The project focus will be on
improving overall farm productivity through sustainable agricultural
practices and on high-value low-volume vegetable crops to tap the
potential niche markets.
More details of Feed the Future initiative are available at this link:
http://www.feedthefuture.gov