July 9-11, 2025: In the Knowledge Summit held in 2018 in Delhi, experts from India and France shared their concerns on facing nutrition and food security resulting from the increasing frequency of extreme climatic events. They recognized agroecology transition as a key lever to face these challenges and agreed on the need to enhance innovation capacities by combining scientific research with the expertise of stakeholders. The project entitled “Towards Climate-smart and Nutrition Sensitive Food Systems” (CliNSFoodS) is a living lab initiative to experiment agroecology in a stakeholder innovations context. BAIF established the CliNSFoodS living lab in 2021 at Bilikere in Mysuru district of Karnataka with the support of Indo-French research collaboration.
In this background, an experience-sharing workshop was organised by the Indo-French Cell for Water Science, Bangalore and BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune to update the status of the living lab and explore the way forward. The workshop was held during 9-10 July 2025 at the Interdisciplinary Center for Water Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, followed by the field visit to the project location at Bilikere on 11 July 2025.
Living lab initiatives with an emphasis on agroecological transitions from India, Senegal and Morocco were presented and future course of action to counter changing climatic conditions and ensure agricultural sustainability were discussed. Experts from diverse domains shared their experiences in ensuring farm sustainability and building resilience. The farmers practicing agroecological practices on their farms also shared their views on the need to ensure farm sustainability.
The workshop participants included Dr. Laurent Ruiz (Indo-French Cell for Water Science), Dr. Shekhar Muddu (Indian Institute of Science), Dr. Bharat Kakade and the living lab project team of BAIF, Dr. Smitha Krishnan (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT), Mr. Mame Birame Sene (Dytale, Senegal), Mr. Kolade Akakpo (CIRAD, Morocco) and representatives from ATREE, WASSAN and Rainforest Alliance.
