Dr. KN Shyamasundaran Nair, the former Vice-Chancellor of KAU said that gender concerns in agriculture is the key issue in the agricultural sector of the country. He called upon the agricultural professionals to understand the nuances in gender concerns. He was inaugurating the National Training on Women in Agriculture Programme organized by the Centre for Studies on Gender Concerns in Agriculture, KAU in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India on November 6 at the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara. Dr.KV Peter,Vice Chancellor, KAU and Ms.Mina Swaminathan, Director, Gendeavour, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai were the Chief guests on the occasion. The training was given to the facilitators of the Central Sector Scheme on Women in Agriculture from the North Eastern States-Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The training imparted as induction and capacity building experiences for the facilitators of the programme gave importance for the gender perspective to be given focus in agricultural endeavors and special programmes for women in agriculture through group approaches. The training also focussed on the need of natural resource integration and new technologies and structures for rural development. In the valedictory function of the programme on November 30, Dr.KV Peter, Vice-Chancellor awarded certificates to the participants. Dr.Tara Thomas, Regional Economist of the Ministry of Agriculture was the Chief guest.