23 Sep 2021 A three-day ‘State Inception Workshop’ was held from 23 to 25 September 2021 in Jaipur, Rajasthan to orient State and District government officials on Green-Ag project. 30 participants from key departments/organisations (Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Social Justice, ATMA, Watershed, KVK, Horticulture, Biodiversity Board, Agriculture University Research Institutions) participated in the workshop, along with representatives from Green-Ag project in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Green-Ag project funded by Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is being implemented in the Desert Landscape of Rajasthan covering the districts of Jaisalmer and Barmer. The core of this landscape is the Desert National Park, which spans across 316,200 ha. Despite the seemingly hostile desert conditions, the landscape is particularly important for its biodiversity and has one of the richest plant diversities among the deserts of the world. The landscape is the last ecological refuge for the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB) and has the largest population of spiny tailed lizard. The project aims to catalyse sustainable transformation of Indian agriculture, without compromising the country’s food security and farmers’ income. The project seeks to mainstream Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustainable Land Management objectives and practices into Indian Agriculture. During the three days of the workshop, participants were given an overview of the project and its implementation architecture, followed by detailed presentations on technical concepts such as Landscape Approach, Landscape Planning and Management, Livestock Management, Sustainable Agriculture, Communication, Gender Mainstreaming and Natural Resource Management. The participants were also oriented to the project’s Results Framework and trained on Operations & Finance Management and MIS. Mr. Tomio Shichiri, FAO Representative in India welcomed and shared the overall project objective with the participants. Dr. Om Prakash, Commissioner, Agriculture, Government of Rajasthan, extended a warm welcome to the FAO/Green-Ag team and urged all participants to shed their ego and work collaboratively to achieve the project objectives. In the Valedictory session, Shri. Prasanta Kumar Swain, Additional Secretary & Agricultural Marketing Advisor, Ministry of Agriculture and Famers’ Welfare highlighted the uniqueness of the Desert Landscape and the need for sustainable practices to conserve it.