National Consultation on Advancing Lifelong Learning for Farmers Commences at MSSRF, Chennai

Chennai, 10 October 2025

The National Consultation on Advancing Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3F) commenced on 10 October 2025 at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai. Jointly Organised by the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) and M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), the two-day event brings together policy-makers, researchers, and practitioners to chart the next phase of the globally acclaimed L3F initiative—Advancing L3F (2025–2035): “Scaling up, Scaling out, and Scaling deep."

Inaugural Session: Reflecting on Two Decades of L3F

The formal inaugural session began with a welcome address by Dr. R. Rengalakshmi, Executive Director (Area Operations), MSSRF, who highlighted the importance of revisiting two decades of L3F’s journey to inform future strategies.

Dr. B. Shadrach, Director, COL-CEMCA, in his opening remarks, set the tone for the consultation by emphasising L3F’s transformation from a small pilot to a global model of community-driven learning linked to financial inclusion and digital empowerment. He reiterated COL’s commitment to fostering partnerships that integrate AI, IoT, and agrifintech tools into farmer learning systems.

Delivering the Special Address, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson, MSSRF, commended L3F’s focus on empowering women and smallholder farmers through technology-enabled, need-based learning. She called for “a stronger alignment between science, policy, and community knowledge systems.”

The Keynote Address was delivered by Dr. K. Balasubramanian, Former Vice President, Commonwealth of Learning, who traced the genesis and practice of L3F, emphasising its unique model linking human, social, and financial capital.

Dr. Satender Singh Arya, CEO, ASCI, in his special address, highlighted how lifelong learning complements national skilling frameworks and the evolving agricultural ecosystem.

Dr. B. Shadrach pointed out that the L3F model is no longer sufficient and advocated for a reboot, driven by Artificial Intelligence and data, focusing on:

-        Democratising AI-Powered Decision Support to benefit smallholder farmers.

-        Capacity Building for the AI-Ready Farmer through digital and data literacy

-        Integrating AI with Climate and Sustainability Goals to address existential threats like climate change and biodiversity loss.

-        Strengthening the multi-stakeholder ecosystem through ethical data governance, open educational resources, and collaboration across the L3F model's four pillars is crucial for success.

The inaugural session concluded with optimism for collaborative innovation as the consultation moves toward co-creating the L3F 2.0 framework—a decade-long roadmap integrating AI, digital agriculture, and inclusive lifelong learning.