As part of the collaborative outreach programmes in aspirational districts of Odisha, one of the most backward districts viz., Gajapati district in Odisha was selected out of the 10 aspirational districts of Odisha identified by NITI Aayog based on criteria like, backwardness, scope for technological interventions by ICAR-Institutes / Regional Centres, distance and feasibility of road communication and past experiences of working in this district. A team of Scientists from ICAR-CIWA made a visit to this district on 14th December, 2018, to interact with line department officials, KVK Scientists, Farmers and other stakeholders to finalize the need assessment and prepare the plan of action to undertake collaborative research and extension activities.

Scientists-Farmers Interface Meetings were organized at Naringi, Dhimirijholi and Andiragada villages in Mohana block. The interface was organized to sensitize the farm families about the objectives of the aspirational district development programme, need to assess the gender concerns in accessing productive resources and extension services among the farm families, and on the latest technologies in agriculture and allied sectors. Based on need assessment, the following interventions such as promotion of nutrition gardens, promotion of backyard poultry, advisory services for animal production and health care, popularization of women-friendly drudgery reducing farm tools and entrepreneurship development through secondary agriculture were proposed to be taken up.

 

The visit was lead by Dr. S.K. Srivastava, Director, ICAR-CIWA, along with the team of Scientists and technical staff from ICAR-CIWA consisting of Dr. Biswanath Sahoo, Dr. J. Charles Jeeva, Ms. Gayatri Moharana, Smt. Ankita Sahu and Shri. Subrat Kr. Das. The plan of action in this aspirational district was also discussed by Dr. S.K. Srivastava in the Scientific Advisory Committee meeting of KVK, R. Udayagiri, to implement the technological interventions in convergence mode.