Rice is a source of livelihood for 1 billion people globally and that livelihood lacks resilience. Small holder farmers who constitute 90 per cent of the farming communities in Odisha, bear a disproportionate share of the production risks, whether economic or climate driven. IRRI is collaborating with the Government of Odisha through its departments of agriculture and water resources to strengthen the capacity of the farmers to adapt to the climate related challenges. Development of regionally fit-for-purpose socio-technical innovation bundles that are designed to maximize the overall welfare of the farming community is the pivot of the activities undertaken. We aim to contribute towards innovative, practical solutions to climate related technical constraints as well as socio-economic problems to help them adapt to the changing needs while improving livelihood opportunities.
IRRI’s project in Odisha aims to improve incomes, nutrition security and empowerment of women and youth while enhancing livelihoods resilience among smallholder farm families including the landless and sharecroppers. Commercialization of smallholder farms is an essential pathway to improved rural incomes and better access to diversified and nutritious food. Poor access to markets, credit, purchased inputs, technology and extension services have hindered commercialization and made income opportunities inaccessible to many small farm producers.
Aggregation models such as producer organizations where smallholders organize themselves in groups to jointly access resources and market their produce, have shown to reduce transaction costs and benefit from the resulting economies of scale. There is mounting evidence of how rural women have leveraged collectives like Self Help Groups (SHGs), Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) to transform their livelihoods and that of their households. These also offer opportunities for landless and sharecropping households. Rising successes of micro- entrepreneurship and collective livelihood activities under the various national and state rural livelihood missions in India have demonstrated how women have leveraged institutional credit, enhanced productivity, and collectively marketed staple crops, fruits and vegetables through FPOs. Besides capitalizing on economies of scale through collectivization, they have also raised their business margins and diversified livelihoods, making them critical instruments for economic empowerment.
While the potential for farmer collectives to transform the agricultural sector is enormous, FPOs have generally exhibited low performance. These challenges are particularly pronounced for women-led enterprises as women face the additional challenges of limited asset and land ownership and hence access to credit, social norms that restrict their mobility and therefore market linkages and, the gender gaps in access to advisory services and technologies. In line with the government priorities, building resilient agriculture-based livelihoods and women’s economic empowerment through promoting women’s entrepreneurship in Odisha is urgently needed to capitalize on the potential of diversification of products and product lines in rice-based systems with a strong focus on addressing the established shortcomings and gaps that negatively influence sustainability and viability of FPCs.
IRRI has incubated a multi-commodity, multi-services women-led FPC in the MIP of Aglapali in Balangir that is spread across 54 villages. They have built capacity of the members for seed production and linked them to sources of seed (Breeder and Foundation Seed) and also output markets for sustained business in seed business, with necessary licensing and govt approvals. The 1300- member strong W-FPC (Loisingha Women Farmer Services and Producer Company Ltd) is now producing, processing and marketing seeds of climate resilient and market demanded paddy and non-paddy crop varieties. In addition to this the institute is also working to build the capacity of 30 existing FPCs for seed production in three districts in addition to business planning, enterprise development and marketing skills around seed systems.