Konda Chavva is a consultant with FAO India. He provides technical assistance in the design and implementation of "Farmer Field Schools (FFS)" in India to improve farmers’ adaptive capacity and strengthen their resilience to climate change and variability.

He helped design the FFS curriculum on improved goat management practices for the South Asia Pro-Poor Livestock Promotion Program. He was also part of the global team of FFS trainers and experts who drafted the FFS Guidance Document, which provides insight into programming and implementation.

Konda has been working with irrigation departments to improve water management and increase agricultural productivity in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He also assisted the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in designing the natural resource management and governance component of the Andhra Pradesh Drought Mitigation Project, to be implemented in five drought-prone districts in Andhra Pradesh. Another recent project was a New Land Use Policy in Mizoram state, involving soil and water conservation, soil health issues, and improving farmers’ access to markets.

Konda is presently assisting FAO in the design of a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project on green agriculture, which aims to transform Indian agriculture, conserve critical biodiversity in different landscapes, and ensure that the agriculture sector in India contributes positively to sustainable livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

He plans to continue working on issues of critical importance to farmers—soil and water conservation, soil health, water governance, livestock support systems, adaptation to climate change and marketing agricultural produce. [12/16]

Email: konda.chavva@gmail.com