15th GFRAS Annual Meeting, 12-14 November 2024, Senegal
- When - 12-14 November 2024
- Where - Senegal
About us
Asia-Pacific Islands Rural Advisory Services Network (APIRAS) was organized in 2011 to serve as a platform for networking, advocacy, and capacity building for agricultural extension and rural advisory services (RAS) professionals and institutions in the Asia-Pacific Islands Region.
Together with the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS), it has been organising RAS providers in the region through its sub-regional networks and country fora; promoting capacity development; and advocating for an appropriate enabling environment that allows smallholder farmers to access market-oriented advisory services.
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Announcements
A call for cases on Pluralistic Extension and Advisory Services in Asia and the Pacific, April 2024
- When - Submission Date 30 April 2024
What Works to Improve Women Farmers’ Income? A Presentation of the USAID Improved Activity Cost-Effectiveness (ImpAct) Review
- When - 10 April 2024, 8:00AM-9:30AM GMT
News From the Region
IFAD and Indonesian government sign initiative to boost
The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has signed a new initiative with the Government of Indonesia with the aim of transforming dryland farming in Indonesia
The objective of the initiative is to improve the climate resilience and profitability of dryland farming, thereby bolstering the livelihoods of more than 200,000 farmers over the course of the next five years. Co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Horticulture Development in Dryland Areas Sector Project (HDDAP) aims to elevate food availability, accessibility, and quality, while also building resilience to climate change.
The objective of the initiative is to improve the climate resilience and profitability of dryland farming, thereby bolstering the livelihoods of more than 200,000 farmers over the course of the next five years. Co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Horticulture Development in Dryland Areas Sector Project (HDDAP) aims to elevate food availability, accessibility, and quality, while also building resilience to climate change.
Learning continuity ensured: IRRI turns over the online
MANILA, Philippines, 2 February, 2024 – The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for the formal turnover of the Digital Training Module on Rice: Research to Production (RR2P) from IRRI to the DA-Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI).
The ceremonial turnover marks the official transitioning of the Rice: Research to Production (RR2P) Online Training Program developed under the the DA-IRRI “Strengthening the capability of national research for development and Extension partners for Research and deVelopment and Extension of information and technologies to improve productivity, competitiveness, and resilience of rice-based farming communities in the Philippines (DA-IRRI SERVE 2)” Project which ended last October 2023.
The ceremonial turnover marks the official transitioning of the Rice: Research to Production (RR2P) Online Training Program developed under the the DA-IRRI “Strengthening the capability of national research for development and Extension partners for Research and deVelopment and Extension of information and technologies to improve productivity, competitiveness, and resilience of rice-based farming communities in the Philippines (DA-IRRI SERVE 2)” Project which ended last October 2023.
Tropical Agriculture Platform
This course presents the main principles, concepts and approaches of the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) Common Framework on Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CDAIS), developed by international experts to strengthen innovation capacities in low- and middle-income countries.
Digital certification
This course offers certification. You will get your digital badge upon passing a final exam after completing the course and achieving a grade of at least 75%. Please click on the button below to complete the exam, or refer to our Certification section to learn more.
Digital certification
This course offers certification. You will get your digital badge upon passing a final exam after completing the course and achieving a grade of at least 75%. Please click on the button below to complete the exam, or refer to our Certification section to learn more.
new publications
Farmer Inclusion in School-Based Food and Nutrition Programs in Southeast Asia: Strengthening the Nutrition-Education-Development Nexus
This paper draws from the regional policy forum From Farms to Schools: Towards Sustainable and Inclusive School-Based Food and Nutrition Programs in Southeast Asia. The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) organized the forum in partnership with the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (i.e., AFA) in April 2023. Participants represented Southeast Asian education ministries, international development organizations, academic institutions, as well as farmers’ and civil society organizations. The presentations, plenary discussions, and breakout group discussions served as the main inputs for this paper.
The paper briefly discusses the benefits of and challenges to school-based food and nutrition programs (SBFNPs), particularly on the meaningful inclusion of smallholder farmers or family farmers. It includes recommendations for policy and action to improve farmer participation in the SBFNPs and strengthen the nutrition-education-development nexus.
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AESA Update 23 (March 2024)
Agricultural Extension in South Asia (AESA) organized trainings, workshops, participated in webinars and meetings, worked on strengthening country fora, and published several outputs during the period from October 2023 to March 2024.
Regional Brief 2- Mainstreaming Agroecology in Agricultural Education
Agroecology is a promising approach that is transforming agrifood systems across the Asia-Pacific Region. Indeed, there is increasing evidence of positive results with the transition to agroecology, and these include stable yields, crop resilience, higher incomes for farmers, fishers and producers, improved nutrition and food security and enhanced biodiversity (Global Alliance for the Future of Food 2023). Several events and workshops across the region over the last year (including TARASA23), have emphasised the need for agroecological approaches. However, to promote agroecology at scale, the domain needs more professionals who can understand, appreciate, adapt, and promote agroecological principles to suit varied agroecological settings, and to support farmers in designing and managing sustainable and resilient farming systems.
APIRAS Publications
Good Practice Notes On Institutional Innovations-6-Catalysing Grassroot Entrepreneurship Through Satellite Incubation Centres in India
Agribusiness incubation plays a key role in creating and nurturing viable agricultural entrepreneurships involving diverse stakeholders. Currently, agribusiness incubation is campus bound, offering cohort-based pre-incubation and other incubation services. This strategy has an inherent limitation of leaving out grassroot incubation, something that has always been associated with agricultural value chains. With this in mind the Agri-Business Incubator of the ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (ICAR-CTCRI ABI) has developed the concept of Satellite Incubation Centres – a collaborative system for decentralising incubation services to the grassroot level. From 2021, the ICAR-CTCRI ABI has built a strong network of Satellite Incubation Centres (SIC) for serving agripreneurs, farmers’ collectives, startups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the southern, eastern and north-eastern Indian states. The SICs were developed in collaboration with agricultural and veterinary universities and established in states or district level units.
Good Practice Notes on Institutional Innovations-5-Competitive Research Grants: Learning from Krishi Gobeshona Foundation, Bangladesh
The creation of Competitive Research Grants (CRGs) is globally recognized as an institutional innovation for improving the effectiveness of agricultural research. Unlike block grants for research, CRGs are expected to bring in many top-quality proposals from a wide range of actors, selecting the best out of them and thus getting more value for money. The Government of Bangladesh established the Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF) in 2007 as an agency to administer and promote competitive research grants in agriculture. Beyond this, KGF was also tasked with building partnerships and strengthening research capacities. Over the last 15 years, KGF has funded 10 basic research proposals and 260 Competitive Grant Proposals (CGPs). It has also supported several short-term projects/studies. KGF, over the years, has also promoted pluralism in agricultural research and multi-institutional research functioning. Along the way, it also made several changes in its governance, and rules related to grant making as well as management processes. In this Good Practice Note, Dr Wais Kabir, reflects on the performance of KGF over the years, its success and challenges and he draws several lessons for all those who are trying to initiate and promote CRGs in agriculture.
Good Practice Notes on Institutional Innovations-4-Institutional Innovation to Facilitate Low-Cost Organic Certification – How Participatory Guarantee Systems (PSG) Work in Vietnam
Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) and short organic supply chains have emerged as promising solutions for smallholder farmers to provide organic produce to nearby consumers. PGS is an institutional innovation that builds trust among producers, traders and consumers through a low-cost transparent and participatory certification mech- anism. They have particularly gained a foothold among smallholder farmers in middle-income countries, where third-party certification costs are often unaffordable.
In Vietnam, PGS schemes have now been set up in more than seven provinces in Vietnam (Ha Noi, Ha Nam, Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang, Cao Bang, Ben Tre, and Hoi An). With training and coaching by the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association (VOAA), at least five other local governments have expressed their intention to set up organic PGS groups in their respective provinces. Nevertheless, the local organic sector in Vietnam has grown slowly in recent years. PGS-certified vegetable production in Vietnam is generally more profitable and sustainable compared to non-certified production. However, it is constrained by crop productivity challenges and requires higher returns to labour.
APIRAS sub-regional networks
Partners
Funders
