New Delhi, Jun 20 (KNN) The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and the Australian Government convened a high-level roundtable on Thursday to review the successful Australia-India Critical Agriculture Skills Pilot Project and explore scaling it up across sectors.

The pilot, conceptualised in 2022, mapped 107 emerging agricultural job roles and implemented training programs on five critical roles in four Indian states - Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

Roles included Digital Agriculture Extension Promoter, Carbon Farming Practitioner, Livestock Green Management Promoter, Organic Farm & Business Promoter, and Integrated Farming Practitioner - all aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

"This collaboration has delivered meaningful outcomes by upskilling India's agricultural workforce in modern, sustainable practices," said MSDE Secretary Atul Kumar Tiwari, who led the Indian delegation.

Mathew Johnston, Minister Counsellor at the Australian High Commission, joined representatives from India's agricultural, vocational training, and education bodies at the roundtable.

The project partners - ICAR, industry leaders like Mahindra, Australian agricultural colleges, and nonprofits - collaboratively developed coursework preparing trainees for new-age agricultural roles focused on digitization, carbon reduction, organic farming and livestock management.

With agriculture a bulwark of the Indian economy, Tiwari underscored the need to modernise the sector through such demand-driven, sustainable skill initiatives across more sectors.

The pilot project establishes a framework for bilateral cooperation in vocational education, a key pillar of the National Education Policy 2020 promoting internationalisation of Indian education.

(KNN Bureau)