A project entitled – “Support for sustainable agriculture program” is a one year project which has commenced in November 2021 supported by Woka Foundation, United States. Woka Foundation is a private foundation aimed at reversing climate change and building a durable biosphere through innovation, regenerative agriculture, gender equity, and education.

CIKS has been working on sustainable agriculture for over 25 years and one of the focus areas is – Traditional Rice Varieties (TRVs) involving – conservation, documentation and characterization of these varieties, seed production, scaling up of cultivation through supply of good quality seeds and capacity building as well as characterization of nutritional properties of these varieties. In this framework the following are the activities that will be supported by this project –

  • Scaling up of traditional rice varieties to provide quality seeds.
  • Conservation and characterization of selected TRV which have a potential for scaling up – we have named them as – “Boutique Varieties” of potential interest.
  • Production of educational material on boutique varieties.
  • Characterization of biochemical and nutritional properties of selected TRVs.
  • Capacity Building for team members in technical and soft skills and
  • Maintenance and upgradation of training facility, seed storage structure, seed processing unit, demonstration plots, and composting technology demonstrations in Technology Resources Centre (TRC), Chengalpet, Tamil Nadu.

The project will take place in several areas across Tamil Nadu. The project’s major goal is to provide support to farmers in the area of sustainable agriculture, with a particular focus on the cultivation, scaling up, and marketing of traditional rice varieties.