OUR BELIEF

It is the shared belief that Conservation Agriculture can bring about a desired change in the agricultural system that has brought together a group of professionals through a common platform titled Professional Alliance for Conservation Agriculture (PACA). Its character can be best described through its vision below:

PACA Vision
PACA will endeavour to be an agent of change working within the agriculture system by encouraging conservation agriculture practices and contributing to improved food security for the benefit of humans and environment. It will take a professional approach to address needs in an integrated, participative, and sustainable manner based on sound scientific and social principles.

PACA Logo
The PACA logo symbolises sustained productivity achieved through optimal management and conservation of natural resources

MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

PACA is managed through 2 professional groups constituted as part of its institutional structure and both these groups play a key role in driving plans to achieve the vision set out for PACA. It looks to working with state supported institutions, civil society organisations, farmer groups and the private sector to further the cause of conservation agriculture.

The PACA Advisory Group constitutes capable professionals concerned with the cause of agriculture and willing to nurture efforts to positively contribute to needs of farmers and the environment. It functions as an oversight body to facilitate PACA to achieve its long term goals.

Advisory Group Members

• Dr. Amir Kassam, University of Reading, UK
• Dr. I.P. Abrol, Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture, India
• Dr. Ken Sayre, CIMMYT, Mexico
  
• Dr. Larry Harrington, Cornell University, USA
  
• Dr. Raj Gupta, Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia, India
  
• Mr. Sanjeev Vasudev, SocietySTADD, India
  
• Dr. Theodor Friedrich, FAO, Italy

The PACA Working Group is the active operational body that constitutes social and agricultural professionals who have a strong belief in the CA approach, have abundant field experience, and are willing to contribute to field, advocacy and policy initiatives.

Working Group Members

The current members of the Working Group are:

• Dr. Dinesh Abrol, National Inst. of Science Technology & Development Studies
• Dr. Gurbachan Singh, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute
• Dr. H.S. Sidhu, Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia
• Dr. Hardeep Singh, Society for Promotion of Wasteland Development
• Dr. I.P. Abrol, Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture
• Dr. M.L. Jat, Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia
• Dr. P.K. Joshi, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management
• Dr. R.K. Malik,Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia
• Dr. Rajeswari Raina, National Inst. of Science Technology & Development Studies
• Mr. Sanjeev Vasudev, SocietySTADD
• Dr. Sunita Sangar, SocietySTADD

The PACA Field Support Group, we hope over time, will become the most vibrant body within the PACA system. We invite individuals and organisations involved with farming, research, extension, social sciences, equipment manufacture, climate professionals, NRM and rural development to come on board the Field Support Group and contribute to the cause of sustainable agriculture through pursuit of conservation agriculture. PACA's endeavour will be to grow its activities by working with such members who are willing to contribute to promoting the cause of CA. To join PACA's Field Support Group kindly download a copy of the Membership Form, fill, and return to us. As soon as activities start in your region we will be in touch with you, alternatively you too could initiate activities with our technical support.

COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS

Over the period of its existence PACA is working at improving the reach of CA by collaborating with professional institutions as below:

• CCS Haryana Agricultural University
• Central Institute for Research on Goats
• CIMMYT
• Indian Agricultural Research Institute
• Indira Gandhi National Open University
• National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research

We endeavour to work with institutions willing to make a significant difference to address needs of agriculture, climate change, food security, and poverty alleviation. Should you be interested to collaborate, we look forward to hear from you.

PROMOTERS

PACA has been incubated by two not for profit institutions having a strong belief in conservation agriculture with a deep commitment to sustainable development.

Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture (CASA) since its formation in 1998 has been working towards improving prospects of induction of conservation agriculture and has contributed in this regard to efforts of the Indian agriculture R&D system. They have been instrumental in conducting the first National Conference on Conservation Agriculture in 2004 and have added substantial impetus to efforts under the Rice-Wheat Consortium program that provided valuable leads to the cause of conservation agriculture. Subsequently, learning was shared through an EU based global project “Knowledge Assessment and Sharing on Sustainable Agriculture (KASSA)” involving countries such as France, Germany, UK, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan and Vietnam, to name the prominent few. Another area that is being addressed by CASA is the eco-regional approach to agriculture research that points to developing customised solutions to specific location based needs.

Society for Strategy Technology & Delivery for Development (SocietySTADD) is a not-for-profit organisation of well meaning development professionals that over the last 7 years has focused on issues of concern surrounding livelihoods, natural resource management, sustainable agriculture and rural technologies. For three years in a row (2005-2007) SocietySTADD hosted an annual event titled Sustainable & Participative Initiative for Rural Infrastructure Technologies (SPIRIT) that was followed by the formation of the PACA alliance in 2008. SocietySTADD believes in conservation agriculture as the way forward to provide meaningful livelihood options to the rural poor given the importance of agriculture to rural livelihoods, acknowledging the need to address issues of climate change and food security..