Inception
The Budget Speech 2018-19 of University of Kerala envisaged the starting of a ‘Centre for Agroecology and Public Health’ under Department of Economics to collaborate with a HORIZON 2020 European Union (EU) project, NEXTFOOD. – Educating the Next generation of Professionals in Agrifood System. Prior to this, the Department of Economics had collaborated with Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway and had engaged in a Collaborative Project titled ‘Agroecology: Action Research and Education: India-Norway Cooperation’. The NEXTFOOD project is implemented through Welthungerhilfe (WHH), Germany from 2018 to April, 2022. The project is supported by EU H2O2O and led by Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
The objectives of the Centre include,
- To provide the necessary infrastructure in entering into international collaboration in the field of agroecology and public health.
- To provide training to develop capabilities in Action Based Learning in agroecology and public health by fostering knowledge and skills for analysing and developing sustainable agroecological and public health models.
- To develop human resources in the fields of sustainable development with focus on agroecology and public health.
- To undertake research studies in agroecology and public health
- To facilitate case studies in the area of agroecology and public health to identify gaps and needs.
- To create a platform for knowledge sharing for the diverse stakeholders.