BACKGROUND ON FOODSTART+
FoodSTART+ is a three year project led by the International Centre for Potato (CIP) and funded by the International Fund For Agricultural development (IFAD) which will work in five core countries in Asia and additional side in the Pacific. The project aims at assessing food vulnerabilities among poor households with a production and consumption dependence on root and tuber crops (RTCs), and to identify and promote RTC innovations that enhance food resilience. To achieve this goal, FoodSTART+ will develop and validate effective partnership strategies with IFAD investment projects to promote RTCs for Food Security.
BRIEF BACKGROUND OF MBDA PARTNERSHIP WITH CIP AND FOODSTART+(STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP)
On completion of the study in the first phase, CIP proposed a project FoodSTART+ (Food Resilience Through Roots and Tubers in Upland and Coastal Communities of the Asia and Pacific) in five countries, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and India and was approved by IFAD as grant projects.Dr. Gordon Prain, P.I, Resilient Food Systems-Asia, CIP had a meeting with the Dy.CEO, MBDA Shri. Pankaj Jain on 12th June, 2015. A ToR on potatoes was proposed from MBDA. As a part of FoodSTART+, a scoping study on RTCs in Meghalaya was agreed upon and Dr. M. Anantharaman, Former Head Extension and social Sciences, CTCRI, Trivandrum was entrusted by CIP to carry out the study with the help of Shri. E. Shanpru, OSD, MBDA. The Scoping Study started on 20th November 2015. MBDA collaborated on this work through secondary data collection. Key informants interview and Focus Discussion Group were organised in two districts viz East Khasi Hills at Smit village and West Garo Hills at Asanang/Rongram.The main objective of the scoping study is to document the role of roots and tubers in livelihoods and nutritional security of people of Meghalaya, especially to enhance food resilience among poor households by introducing RTC innovations.
MEGHALAYA SCOPING STUDY STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK WORKSHOP ON FOODSTART+ HELD ON 8TH MARCH 2016 AT MEBADA HALL
The Stakeholders workshop was organised with an aimed to highlight key objectives of FoodSTART+ and to share the findings of the scoping study on RTCs conducted in the two districts of Meghalaya and to discussed the action points with the stakeholders and get their views and opinions.
CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP (JUNE 2016)
A capacity building workshop by FOODSTART+ is ongoing in Shillong, for hands-on practical understanding of markets and value chain development. In this regard, 30 participants comprising District Project Managers and other district level personnel for enterprise development were given training on how to analyse value chains using the case studies of ginger, potato, bayleaf and broomgrass. A key training activity was held in markets to engance practical relevance of the training. Additionally, training was also organised around the issues of how to enhance productivity and efficiency of farmers’ enterprises across the value chain.