Pact signed for sustainable agriculture

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between different departments and RYSS of Andhra Pradesh for climate resilient natural farming through women self-help groups (WSHGs).

In a virtual meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra from Lok Seba Bhawan, the agreement among the departments of Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste and Minorities Development, Mission Shakti and T Vijaya Kumar, Advisor to government of Andhra Pradesh on Agriculture and Cooperation, and Executive Vice-Chairman of RYSS was signed.

Emphasising on inevitability of natural farming for eco-biology and sustainable future, Mahapatra directed concerned departments to have robust field-level convergence for a successful implementation of the programme. “Natural farming will get popular acceptance among the people, more particularly in tribal dominated districts of Odisha as the method is quite compatible with the traditional patterns. The method while reducing the cost of production will also usher in production of safe and nutritious food items,” he said.

The MoA was signed to start the programme in tribal-dominated areas in collaboration with RYSS of Andhra Pardesh who would provide knowledge support with its rich experience.

Outlining the basic objectives of the programme, Principal Secretary Ranjana Chopra said, that natural farming transition programme will be implemented in tribal dominated areas of five districts namely Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada and Koraput. The project would be rolled out in the operational area from the financial year of 2022-23.

“The programme would be implemented in convergence with Mission Shakti Department through the members of 13,500 WSHGs. A total area of around 3.15 lakh hectre of farm land would be taken up under the programme. Cluster approach would be adopted for implementation. Each cluster would consist of 50 WSHGs. An amount of around Rs.311.93 crore would be invested over five years in the programme,” Chopra added.