By Md. Atikur Rahman Atik, from Rajshahi
BARCIK organized a two-day training workshop on Agroecology, Food Sovereignty, and Climate Justice recently in Rajshahi. Farmers, women farmers, youth representatives, community organizers, and agroecology practitioners from across the Rajshahi region participated in the training.
The training covered agroecological farming, environmentally friendly agricultural practices, safe food production, climate adaptation, food sovereignty, and agricultural biodiversity conservation. Participants also received practical demonstrations on producing and using botanical biopesticides, vermicompost preparation, indigenous seed conservation techniques, distinguishing local and hybrid seeds, reducing plastic use, and developing safe agricultural markets.
Discussions also highlighted BARCIK’s Shotobari Initiative and Agroecology Learning Centres as community-based platforms for knowledge sharing and expanding agroecological practices. Special emphasis was placed on engaging young people in the agroecology movement.
One of the workshop’s key sessions featured a group exercise titled “Food Diversity: Then and Now,” where participants compared rural food habits from two decades ago with present-day consumption patterns. They observed that traditional diets once rich in indigenous rice, vegetables, pulses, fish, fruits, and seasonal foods have been replaced increasingly by market-dependent and processed foods, posing threats to nutrition, biodiversity, and local food culture.
