Prolinnova’s International Partners Workshop (IPW) 2025 took place on 10–14 November in Idukki, Kerala, hosted by Peermade Development Society (PDS), host organisation of Prolinnova-South India. Partners and friends from 20 countries took part in the event. The President of PDS, Fr Boby Alex Mannamplackal, opened the event, while the augural address was given by Mr Anil Kumar, Chairman, Kerala State Biodiversity Board. Several invitees also addressed the gathering, including Mr Ram Krishna Shresthra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Nepal; Mr N P Anish, Deputy Registrar (Academic Affairs), Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology; and Fr Hubby Mathew, Director Social Services, St Thomas Mission Society, Mandia, Karnataka. Ms Birgit Habermann, Prolinnova Oversight Group co-chair, and Fr Sabu John Panachikal, PDS Executive Director, welcomed the participants. Mr Anil Kumar officially opened the farmer innovation fair where 15 farmers shared their local innovations and experiences in transforming these into enterprises. The Prolinnova Country Platform (CP) partners exhibited their knowledge resources in an information market.
As is customary, all CPs presented summaries of their key achievements, lessons learnt and challenges during the past year. Key discussions were held around Prolinnova’s strategy for 2026–30, intellectual property and setting up a knowledge commons for farmer innovation, and commercialisation of local innovation products through social enterprises. Ensuring the sustainability of Prolinnova through fundraising for its activities and operations was an area that also received focused attention.
The field visits were a highlight of the IPW, during which participants in smaller groups visited several farmer innovators on their farms and discussed aspects of innovation and enterprise development with them. The farmer innovators included Mr Thomas, who has bred a bush pepper variety; Mr Kunjunj, who developed a high-yielding pepper variety, and Mr Thomas, who propagates this variety through grafting, forming a win-win collaboration with the breeder; Mr Joshy who has designed machines including a multipurpose grinder/shredder/ chopper for wet and dry farm material; and Mr Jose Mathew, who has bred a presidential prize-winning high-yielding “Kuchchudy” nutmeg variety. The participants were inspired by the creativity and diligence of these farmer innovators and were convinced that these stories would help them support and encourage farmer innovators in their own countries. The participants also visited PDS’s farmer innovator resource centre, which has documented over 1000 farmer innovations from all parts of Kerala.
The IPW ended on a high note with participants energised and inspired to continue promoting farmer innovation and the participatory innovation development approach. They also pledged to reach out to others within and beyond their countries for sharing experiences and learning together towards Prolinnova’s vision – a world in which women and men farmers play decisive roles in agroecology and natural resource management (NRM) innovation processes for sustainable livelihoods.
