The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the apex body for co-ordinating, guiding, and managing research and education in agriculture, and the World Bank have come together to announce an International Conference on 'Blended Learning Ecosystem for Higher Education in Agriculture' in India under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP).

The three-day event to be held, from March 21-23 in New Delhi will be hosted by ICAR - IASRI (Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute), which is a multi-partner global forum to support collaboration for the development of a state-of-the-art blended education system for higher agricultural education.

This conference aims to facilitate the development of a global ecosystem of partners from academia, industry, government, and multilateral and bilateral organizations who would provide critical insights toward the design and full-scale implementation of all aspects of the Resilient Agricultural Education System (RAES) under National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), that is, learning management system, content repository, and system-wide capacity building. Apart from the engaging discussions the three-day event will also showcase an exhibition on the diverse range of services and offerings in the field of agriculture and blended learning.

The conference and exhibition will be inaugurated by Narendra Singh Tomar, minister - Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare. Various other ministries will also be participating, along with other global leading institutions like AICTE, IIT, and IRRI, among others. Eminent speakers addressing The conference include Himanshu Pathak, secretary, of the Department of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE) and Director General (DG), ICAR, ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, R.C. Agrawal, deputy director general (Agricultural Education), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India and Auguste Tano Kouame, Country Director, The World Bank among others.

Himanshu Pathak, secretary, department of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE) and director general (DG), ICAR, ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, said, “According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the agriculture sector in India contributes 17-18% of the Gross Value (GVA) added of the economy and employs more than 40% of the workforce. Farmers are adopting new technologies to improve and monitor crop health and production. The true adoption of blended learning has immense potential and can unlock the agriculture economy to new heights.’’

According to R.C. Agrawal, deputy director general (Agricultural Education), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), “The focus of the conference is to strengthen the collaboration among multiple implementing agencies working in the domains of remote learning, digital education, and blended education systems. It will also help in establishing synergies with flagship programs such as Digital India and Skill India to accelerate deployment of the Resilient Agricultural Education System (RAES) under NAHEP.”

The conference is organized around the thematic areas, including strategies for blended teaching-learning, technologies for blended learning, sustainability in the blended learning ecosystem, building stakeholder capacities to navigate in a blended teaching-learning ecosystem, and contemporary curriculum for agricultural education. NAHEP, which was proposed on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis between the World Bank and the Government of India, was formulated by ICAR with a total cost of USD 165 million for five years in the financial year 2017-18. It was undertaken to strengthen the National Agricultural Education System in the country.