Nauni Varsity & FAO Introduces Certificate course on 'Sustainable and Local Food Systems'

Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni, in collaboration with the UN Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO), has launched a four-week International Certificate Course on 'Sustainable and Local Food Systems.'

This course has over 30 participants, mostly scientists and researchers from Horticulture University Nauni and five other countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, Morocco, and Malawi. The course is based on FAO and the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment's 'Enabling Sustainable Food Systems: Innovators Handbook' (INRAE). The course was created in partnership with the Université Gustave Eiffel. The four-week (38-hour) course combines live online training workshops with self-paced online content study and assignments.

The course has begun as part of the World Bank-funded ICAR NAHEP IDP, which is being implemented at the university. According to Vice-Chancellor Rajeshwar Singh Chandel, the course aims to assist current and future food system innovators in creating or transforming localised food systems based on farm landscape diversification through agroecology.

 It also aims to empower participants to become facilitators, capable of using this training template to collaborate with others in their community, leading to more innovative food system transformations. "The course will improve participants' understanding of the concepts of localization and the circular economy and apply them to local food systems," Prof. Chandel said, adding that participants will be trained to identify a network of local, regional, and global innovators with whom to collaborate and further train innovators in your local area on food system transformation.

Ashish Gupta, a renowned expert in sustainable food systems, entrepreneurship, and technology, Dr Alison Loconto, Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Science, Innovation, and Society (LISIS) and a Research Professor at INRAE, German experts from Ecoselva, and several international and Indian experts will guide participants through the course's various aspects. started as part of the World Bank-funded ICAR's NAHEP IDP, which is being implemented at the university.

According to Vice-Chancellor Rajeshwar Singh Chandel, the course aims to assist current and future food system innovators in creating or transforming localised food systems based on farm landscape diversification through agroecology. It also aims to empower participants to become facilitators, capable of using this training template to collaborate with others in their community, leading to more innovative food system transformations.

"The course will improve participants' understanding of the concepts of localization and the circular economy and apply them to local food systems," Prof. Chandel said, adding that participants will be trained to identify a network of local, regional, and global innovators with whom to collaborate and further train innovators in your local area on food system transformation.