Half-Yearly Progress Report Annual Progress Report
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Half-Yearly Progress Report November 2019 - May 2020 Sustainable ImprovementAnnual Progressof Rural Livelihoods Report and Restoration Of Coconut-based Livelihoods Through Specific November 2019 - October 2020 Sustainable ImprovementScience-based of Rural Interventions Livelihoods and Restoration Of Coconut-based Livelihoods Through Specific Science-based Interventions Submitted to Odisha Livelihoods Mission Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department Government of Odisha Sustainable Improvement of Rural Livelihoods and Restoration of Coconut-based Livelihoods Through Specific Science-based Interventions Annual Progress Report November 2019 - October 2020 Submitted to Odisha Livelihoods Mission Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department Government of Odisha Table of Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................ 1 Background ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Overview of Odisha Bhoochetana and Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM) ......................................... 3 Objectives ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Strategy ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Updates on project activities ................................................................................................................. 5 A. Selection and mapping of pilot sites ......................................................................................... 5 c. Assessing soil nutrient status ..................................................................................................... 9 B. Socio-economic activities ......................................................................................................... 12 C. Rejuvenation of coconut-based livelihoods ............................................................................ 15 VII. Developing a convergence plan with MGNREGA in Puri and Khorda districts .................. 25 D. Piloting science led productivity enhancement in Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Gajapati districts .............................................................................................................................. 35 Master training on nursery management ............................................................................... 50 Technical advices by project staff ............................................................................................ 51 Training on raising soil less seedlings ...................................................................................... 51 Establishment of nursery structures and solar dryers ............................................................ 52 G. ‘Plantix’ - A digital tool for plant protection ........................................................................... 60 H. Establishment of appropriate processing equipment (ready-to-cook dry mix processing line and bakery line) to enable localized processing of nutri-food products ........................................ 65 Annexures ............................................................................................................................................. 77 Executive summary Odisha Livelihoods Mission partnered with an ICRISAT-led consortium comprising CGIAR institutions based in India for an impact-oriented scaling up project on research for development in the state of Odisha to support the improvement of rural livelihoods. The consortium started working towards establishing a proof of concept to translate strategic research knowledge into improved livelihoods by scaling up a participatory research for development (PR4D) model. Recent incidence of COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown has put income and food security of millions of people in India at crossroads. There is a lull in human activity and income losses across all sectors. Though the Central and Odisha governments granted relaxation to continue some activity in the agriculture sector, spikes in COVID-19 incidence has compelled district administrations to re- impose restrictions of travel and other activities in certain areas. As a consequence, the summer planning and implementation of project activities related to agriculture has gone awry this year. Given the paucity of time before onset of monsoon in Odisha, it was essential to quick start activities by utilizing available resources and support from local institutions and private partners. Therefore, ICRISAT had to take recourse to novel and alternate methods to continue field activities in a seamless manner by making use of farm mechanization and the best available IT technologies. In the process, ICRISAT has come out with a mobile based solution to reduce drudgery, facilitate transparency and monitoring, elimination of moral hazard, paperless and precise data entry with ease and speed. In this regard, software solutions viz., MPro, MSoil, Plantix and use of ICRISAT’s MEASURE platform were developed and deployed to hasten work of field teams. The project team has tried to achieve planned targets by utilizing available resources and manpower along with active support of OLM officials. In Puri and Khorda districts, where target was to “Rejuvenate coconut-based livelihoods”, the efforts focused on coconut plantation (20,000 nos. completed by 31st October 2020) along with promoting vertical intensification by introducing multi- storied cropping and intercropping (total 34 HHs across 10 villages). Across the four tribal districts, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Gajapati, about 1932 demonstrations in INM, IPM, best management practices, scientific vegetable cultivation, etc., were conducted. Over 15000 soil samples were collected from six districts and brought to ICRISAT for chemical analysis at ICRISAT’s soil testing laboratory. The team was involved in regular capacity building programs of field-based project functionaries on usage of the mobile app, scientific soil sampling methodology, conducting kharif demonstrations, low cost mechanization, etc. In view of nationwide lockdown, efforts were made to organize necessary trainings in online mode using open- source cloud-based training tools. Further, regular hands-on trainings have been organized by field teams in project villages. The crops have shown a good response to various technologies in field demonstrations and all relevant data is being uploaded on regular basis. The same is displayed through a web-based dashboard. 1 Background Odisha is a predominantly an agrarian state; more than 83% of the population live in rural areas and depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood. Odisha has a total cultivable land area of 6.18 million ha (65% rainfed and 35% irrigated – supporting a population of 50 million), of which 2.91 million ha (47%) is highland, 1.75 million ha (28%) midland and 1.51 million ha (25%) is lowland. The state receives average annual rainfall of 1482 mm over approximately 70 days (June to October), of which 80% occurs as short and intense storms in a span of three to five days during the rainy season. Even though the state is endowed with rich natural resources and biodiversity, it is plagued with problems of low crop productivity, high cost of cultivation, lack of remunerative prices leading to low per capita income, reduced employment opportunities and low purchasing power. Agriculture, which employs about 73% of the workforce, only contributes about 30% to the state’s GDP. Rice is the predominant crop cultivated across 3.96 million ha with productivity of 2400 kg/ha (Odisha Economic Survey 2017-18). Pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane, coconut and turmeric are also grown to a lesser extent. With regard to the tribal belt in Odisha, crops like finger millet, maize, sorghum, red kidney bean, paddy, groundnut, pearl millet and small millets grown using poor management practices, and more as subsistence crops, reinforce the nature of farming that leads to poor crop productivity and low incomes. Moreover, the quality of soil in general is rather poor with low moisture retention capacity. This is a natural drawback to the state’s economy as agriculture is its mainstay. As a result, much of its rural population is in the grip of unabated poverty which leads to migration of human resources, malnutrition, and degradation of the natural resource base. To increase agricultural productivity and accelerate agricultural growth, investments in the agriculture sector need to be stepped up substantially. Harnessing the large potential of agriculture in the state calls for a science-led initiative that can benefit millions of farmers with a sustainable increase in productivity, production and family incomes to support rural livelihoods. While sustainably optimizing the production potential of agricultural land through soil test-based nutrient management and inculcating scientific agricultural practices can lead to an increase in farm productivity, livelihood improvement demands greater emphasis on capacitating human resources through collective action among the local stakeholders, better resource utilization, enhancing the capacity of custom hiring centers, value chain improvement, diversification of income sources, addressing malnutrition