Introduction to CASI Visual Syllabus

Learning how to be a Conservation Agriculture based Sustainable Intensification farmer and/or service provider

Through a series of ‘How Do I’ videos filmed with communities and based on local scenarios, smallholder farmers, local service providers and other interested audiences will now have the opportunity to learn online about how to implement Conservation Agriculture systems. 

We know now that Conservation Agriculture (CA) can lead to improved productivity, economic, environmental and even social outcomes. Yet many across South Asia remain unaware of what CA is.

To address this, the SRFSI project has been working since 2014 to test, validate and promote the use of CA practices including Zero tillage. As part of spreading information on CA, we have developed with partners across the region a series of “How Do I’ videos that engage farmers in both awareness and understanding of how to apply CA practices.

This ‘Visual Syllabus’ was scripted with local partners based on local scenarios, and filmed in one of our active communities in West Bengal. It currently consists of two chapters – the first chapter focusing on learning what Zero Tillage is, and the second chapter based on all the steps required to implement CA with Maize.

This series of videos is a complete visual syllabus for CASI farming and service provision. Based on fictional story created with real farmers and service providers, SRFSI aims to disseminate a thorough step-by-step information on Zero Till Seed Drill Machine and thus, facilitate widespread adoption of the machine at local level. Answering all the possible questions related to Zero Till Machine, these videos are an A-Z guide for all, beginners or pros.

This initiation from SRFSI project, funded by ACIAR and implemented by CIMMYT, is to support the widespread adoption of zero-tillage machine for sustainable, resilient and more profitable farming leading to improving lives of smallholder farmers in the EGP.