Food systems foresight aims to help to provide a long-range perspective on key drivers and trends in regional and local food systems. Foresight is a process for bringing greater social and political awareness of these issues and for driving change through engaging key stakeholders and exploring alternative future scenarios and transformation pathways.
As part of the work on Foresight, more than 200 researchers, planners, policymakers, entrepreneurs, civil society members and farmers came together for planning, learning, and information sharing. Throughout the process we’ve discussed and produced reports and papers; and we also needed to capture farmers’ voices. So we asked farmers from across the Eastern Gangetic Plains what their vision for the future is, and they told us their desire for expanded businesses, thriving and prosperous families and specialised marketing. Hear from them below.
Nutan Devi is a passionate leader in her community and conservation agriculture farmer who lives in Dogachi Village, Purnea District of Bihar, India. Nutan and her husband first adopted CASI during the SRFSI project and have become strong advocates for the approach to farming.
Chandan Mehta is a lead farmer from Bhokraha village in Sunsari Province of Nepal. For Chandan it was love at first sight when the zero till machine was introduced to a number of communities in the Terai region of Nepal through the SRFSI project. Chandan quickly adopted conservation agriculture farming principles and began providing zero till services to a number of neighbouring communities.
When the opportunity arose to diversify from traditional farming into mushroom production through SRFSI, Arati Barman from state of West Bengal in India, jumped at the opportunity. Over time as Arati and her fellow group of mushroom producers have grown their production she has also continued to grow her dreams for the future
Mooni Bibi is a key member of the local women’s self-help group Mukta Sonirbhar, located In Hawargari village, Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, India. In recent years with the increase in popularity of rice transplanter machines, the group has grown in popularity among local farmers as a reliable rice seedling producer. However, for Mooni, her dreams for the future don’t just stop there.
Kalpana Soren lives in Mohonpur Village, Rangpur District, Bangladesh. As a landless farmer, Kalpana has worked hard to earn an income for each harvest of her parcel of rented land. Since adopting CASI practices, Kalpana has been able to save money on inputs and also earn more at harvest time. These small increases in income mean Kalpana hopes to increase her farming productivity even more in the future so that she can support her children in their own future pursuits of education and life.