The Organic Cotton Accelerator (OCA) initiative has launched what it says is the first training package designed for organic cotton growers in more than a decade. The OCA’s Organic Cotton Training Curriculum is a standardised publicly-available ‘training of trainers’ curriculum on best practices on topics from seed to harvest. Developed in consultation with FiBL (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture) and supported by the GIZ German development corporation, it is designed to complement existing training materials.
The Organic Cotton Training Curriculum has already been launched on the ground, during an initial roll out this summer. Hundreds of field staff from OCA’s implementing partners and farm groups across India has already been trained up.
OCA and FIBL plan to regularly update and improve the modules, activity guides and curriculum guidelines using feedback from farmers, field staff, farm groups and other experts to ensure it captures the latest innovations in agronomic practices.
“This is a curriculum for all our dedicated field staff who deliver round-the-year training and advisory support to the in-conversion and certified organic farmers across many states in India,” said Shankhamala Sen, Senior Programme Officer at OCA.
“It is unique in that it consolidates the most relevant topics and challenges that our field staff and farmers face on a day-to-day basis on crop management practices from the seed selection stage to post-harvest management.
“We are encouraged by the positive reception at field-level when the curriculum was piloted this summer. This is a key resource and milestone for OCA’s programmes and the sector at large, and we are looking forward to building it out with further tools and including other geographies in the near future.”
Amritbir Riar, FiBL’s Deputy Leader of International Cooperation, commented: “The Organic Cotton Training Curriculum is designed to reduce the gaps between scientific and practitioner communities.
“The curriculum will help develop the cotton-growing community’s capacities to produce more sustainably and work as a catalyst to fast-track the system’s transformation toward resilience.”
OCA has also invested in a ‘Learning Management System Platform’ to support virtual training and easy access to the materials, online via the OCA website or through a mobile app.
The curriculum is available in English and Hindi for the initial roll out across India. OCA will further work on translations to local languages and adapt the modules for Pakistan, where the organisation recently started its farm programme.
