Improving livelihood opportunities of women smallholder farmers in Odisha

The opportunity

To increase the livelihoods of 15% small holder women farmers in Odisha by facilitating their inclusion in the government’s Minimum-Support-Price (MSP) based procurement systems.

 

The solution

The estimated number of farmers linked with the MSP system in Odisha stands at 4.2 million, of which only 10% are small farmers. Of the estimated 1.2 million farmers registered for sale of paddy in Odisha, only about a fourth are smallholders, which indicates exclusion from the organized procurement system.

The WFP Trust for India along with the Odisha Government in collaboration with Sodexo (and Stop Hunger) grant, is supporting women smallholder farmers in Odisha in improving their livelihoods through their enhanced participation in the government procurement system.

The project is Interlinked with the state’s Mission Shakti programme to enable the implementation at scale through their block level cadre, reaching women smallholder farmers and WSHGs in all blocks of the state.

 

Key highlights

The project is being implemented across all districts of the state in collaboration with Government of Odisha’s Mission Shakti. The partnership with Mission Shakti will enable implementation at scale through their block level cadre, reaching women smallholder farmers and Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) in the state.

The recommendations emerging from the project implementation will be used to advocate with the Government of Odisha for scale-up across the state, and for developing a policy, thus benefitting all the women farmers in the state.

The project will document the challenges faced by women smallholder farmers in reaching organized markets for their produce, and to provide actionable short, medium and long-term recommendations to improve smallholder women farmers’ access to and linkage with procurement systems.

A Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) campaign will enhance women smallholder farmers’ awareness about government procurement systems and help them improve the marketability of their produce through basic quality improvement.

Mission Shakti is focused on socio-economic empowerment of women through the formation of WSHGs, providing them with access to credit and providing avenues for skill development and livelihood promotion.