Since its formation in mid-2008, PACA has toiled to carry the message of conservation agriculture to various forums involving practitioners, and the research, extension and policy domain. Over the last six months it has also moved to the field by involving itself in a World Bank funded National Agriculture Innovation Project addressing needs of conservation agriculture in the resource stressed region of Mewat, Haryana. Beyond this PACA has initiated 5 field demonstration trials on plots of poor farmers in the Vidarbha region as a precursor to a larger roll out in days ahead.

Given below is a brief summary of our efforts in the months gone by:

INSTITUTIONAL EFFORTS

• A half day meeting addressing need for CA was conducted at the Project Directorate Cropping Systems Research at Meerut that was attended by about 45 ICAR agronomists.
• Heads of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in Haryana were met at a meeting to sensitise them to needs of CA.
• A meeting was held at New Delhi on June 17 2008, the UNCCD Day for Land Desertification, and was well attended by leading professionals from the agriculture field.
• A meeting was held on Sept. 4 2008 at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar that brought together the academic and research system professionals to understand efforts carried out in Haryana and sensitise them on CA as a way forward. Similar efforts are being planned in other States.
• A series of meetings have been held in and around New Delhi with farmer groups involved with CA. Other stakeholders such as machinery manufacturers, agri-business centres and micro-finance institutions have also been met progressively.
• PACA was involved with conducting a National Consultation on Conservation Agriculture on December 11th, 2008 in collaboration with National Centre for Agricultural Economics & Policy Research (NCAP) and National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS).
• The first meeting of the PACA Advisory Group was conducted at New Delhi on 3rd Feb., 2009 that helped develop a strategy and action plan for PACA's future efforts.
• PACA participated in a half day meeting at the invitation of Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh to chalk out a way forward for introduction of CA in the state.
• The IVth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture hosted at New Delhi between 4th and 7th February 2009 offered an opportunity to PACA to conduct a side event that was well attended. The deliberations defined expectations and helped point to the way forward for PACA to take to further the cause of CA in the region.
• PACA group actively participated in the stakeholder workshop and launch workshop of the IRRI-CIMMYT project titled, “Cereal Systems Initiative in South Asia”, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• Several policy notes have been contributed to for government bodies that could influence the fate of agriculture in days ahead.

KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

• PACA has hosted a website that is updated for the benefit of those wishing to understand conservation agriculture
• A PACA Newsletter is produced every two months and the 12-16 page issue reaches more than 3,000 professionals involved with the subject of agriculture, poverty alleviation, and rural development on a global basis. Among other readers, the newsletter reaches policy makers and practitioners forming part of the Planning Commission, ICAR, Ministry of Agriculture, and CGIAR institutions.
• A series of publications are being regularly produced and released, few prominent ones being mentioned below:
  • Bibliography
  • Education Series - in English and Hindi
  • Factbook - in English and Hindi
  • Factsheet
  • FAQ Book - in English and Hindi
  • Posters
  These are part of a continuing effort to offer content on the subject of CA. Copies of these publications may be downloaded from the Content page.
• PACA has now embarked upon developing an Education Series that will be targeted at field staff and farmers and will be translated in different languages to meet local needs. We hope to offer most of our content in regional languages over time.
• Also on the anvil is development of capacity building modules that PACA hopes to port through the extension, distance learning and certificate course mechanisms.

FIELD EFFORTS

Farmers seen adjusting the "Datar", a marking instrument developed for
no-till cotton sowing at PACA’s demonstration plot near Nagpur, Vidarbha

• PACA has moved its efforts to the field and is collaborating in a 3 year duration consortium based World Bank funded NAIP project with CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar as the leader. The project is located at Mewat, Haryana and PACA hopes to establish findings pointing to a better understanding of CA needs of rainfed regions that are under stress. To read more about the project you may visit the project website by clicking here.
• During Kharif 2010 PACA has sown, on CA principles, 5 acres of crop (2 for cotton and 3 for soya) on demonstion basis. These plots are located near Nagpur in the troubled Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.