Bhubaneswar/Nuapada: Principal Advisor to Chief Minister and Chairman of Western Odisha Development Council (WODC), Asit Tripathy, who was on a 2-day visit to Nuapada district, today visited a WODC-funded Millet Processing Unit at Ichhapur under Komana Block adjoining Biju Expressway.
Tripathy discussed about the status of the Installation of machinery & trial run by the unit. He also interacted with the Farmers Producers’ organisation (FPO) led by Maa Sunadei Producers’ Company. He discussed the requirements for an increase in Millet production and its importance to support the millet manufacturing units. He emphasized the need of leveraging modern equipment with the latest technology installed.
The capacity building of the FPOs was highlighted and WODC Chairman sensitised the FPOs to build their own strength & pinpointed the required Capacity Building measures to District Administration in order to exemplify this unique initiative.
Among others, CEO, WODC Dr Ajit Kumar Mishra & Collector, Nuapada Mrs Swadha Dev Singh were present during the visit.
Thereafter, Mr Tripathy headed to Bhaludungri village in Bhojpur Khariar tehsil under Nuapada District & interacted with the women farmers of Satya Sai Producers Group. Interacting with them, Tripathy said, “It was promising to see them actively involved in the promotion of Agriculture Production Clusters (APCs) in the region”. Varieties of vegetables & seeds are being cultivated and with the support of strong market linkage, the income of nearly 6,000 small and marginal farmers in both Khariar and Boden blocks has doubled. It must be highlighted that multiple livelihood assets like 800 hectares of irrigated land and 400 acres of orchards have been created which ensure remunerative returns. The farmer group demanded for a packing house for onions to add to their list of livelihood assets. Construction of the same shall be considered by WODC at the earliest.
To add to this demand, WODC also plans to provide a fleet of temperature-regulated logistic support to promote the sale of fresh fruits and vegetables grown by farmers of Khariar.
Interacting with the farmer, Tripathy, said, “I have noticed several encouraging trends”. Farmers are seeing the benefit of business opportunities in the allied sector. This will have a positive impact as far as increasing farmer income is concerned. Poultry is an attractive sub-segment. To ensure raw material security poultry feed plants can be a viable business option. Fisheries have had exponential growth. To maintain the growth trajectory consistent water availability must be ensured. This can be achieved by constructing check dams across minor rivers.
The WODC Chairman visited UGPL work of lower Indra Irrigation Project at Bhojpur village and enquired from Chief Construction Engineer Lower Indra Irrigation Project Khariar for the early functionality of this project so that the ayecutdars will get the benefit of assured Irrigation for their crops.
Crop diversification in form of cash crops such as cotton, maize and millet has gained momentum. However, due to a lack of adequate quality and quantity of seeds, oilseeds and pulses are still lagging. This needs urgent attention to capitalise on the market opportunities given India’s import dependency. With hand-holding and guidance from NGOs, the producer group in Agriculture Production Cluster (APC) are scaling up their operations. This augers well for linking farmers to markets for better price realisations.
Chairman WODC also visited Nilamadhav Fish Hatchery at Areda (Tarapur) of Khariar Block of Nuapada Dist. He interacted with MKUY entrepreneur Sri Susanta Kumar Sahu, who is doing fish seed production and sale business. He has dug a number of pisciculture tanks in his own 35 acres of land along with additional 50 acres of water area leased tanks. Record 25 crore spawns have been produced by him in 16 numbers of Hatcheries last year. Fish seeds of all varieties are available on his farm. As an empanelled fish seed supplier, he has been able to supply one crore advanced fingerlings to 7 Districts of our state during 2020-21. In spite of severe water constraints along with scorching heat, this fish seed Hatchery and the farm is a source of inspiration to the young upcoming fish farmers in a commercial way.
On the spot, WODC Chairman advised Collector to explore the construction of a check dam over the adjoining Nala to mitigate the water scarcity for the number of dry pisciculture tanks.
Foundation Stone for construction of 500 seated WODC funded Town Hall of Khariar in Nuapada District with an estimated cost of Rs.9.8 cr was also laid today by the WODC Chairman. People of both the Khariar Town & Autonomous College as well will get benefit from this most felt need project, which was a long-standing demand of MLA, Khariar & the District Administration. The Town Hall will come up with a good architectural design & 18 months dateline given for completion by R&B, Nuapada.
Yesterday, Tripathy laid Foundation Stone for the construction of Nuapada Town Hall-cum-Auditorium with an estimated cost of Rs. 7.78 Crore.
Tripathy interacted with students of Khariar Autonomous College and encouraged them to pursue careers in Entrepreneurship & Agrobusiness as the greenfield corridor Biju Expressway is passing through the Nuapada district. Some of the problems faced by students were highlighted.
WODC Chairman assured that their charter of demands like up-gradation of college gymnasium, development of playfield, rooftop solar system, girls common room, etc will be taken up by WODC in the right perspective.
