Building Climate Resilience Through Women-Centric Agricultural Innovations

Maria Jones of UN Women (India Country Office) in India with Umang Agarwal of GROW Indigo and Sudarshan Thakur of PRADAN, both in India will develop a sensor to measure biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and provide it together with access to biofertilizers to women small-scale producers in India as a model of gender-intentional agricultural innovation. They will develop a low-cost sensor for real-time measurement of BNF in the field. They will conduct field trials with the sensor, using the data to generate a model that incorporates satellite imagery data to estimate BNF, and then validate the model with mass spectrometry data from the field trial. They will pilot test the sensor plus access to biofertilizers and training on complementary climate-smart agricultural practices with women small-scale producers in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. This package of support could lead to improved soil health and crop productivity, increasing income as well as resilience to climate change.