Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture

News:Government of India, Government of Odisha and the World Bank has signed a $165 million loan agreement for the Odisha’s Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture.

Facts:

About the project:

• The aim of the project is to strengthen the resilience of the small holder farmers against adverse climate.
• The project will be implemented in rural areas that are vulnerable to droughts and are largely dependent on rainfed agriculture.
• It will benefit around 125,000 smallholder farmers from 15 districts of Odisha.
• This project is under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) of the government so as to achieve the sustainable agriculture-related targets of the SDGs by 2030.

Objectives of the project:

• improve access to resilient seed varieties and diversify towards climate resilient crops.
• improve access to better water management and irrigation services.
• support farmers to reduce the current emphasis on food grains, especially paddy and wheat.
• provide marketing support to farmers who are able to generate a marketable surplus.
• support the rehabilitation of 532 water tanks thereby promoting productivity improvements at the farm level.

Additional information:

About NAPCC:

• The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was launched in 2008 by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.
• It aims at creating awareness among the representatives of the public, different agencies of the government, scientists, industry and the communities on the threat posed by climate change and the steps to counter it.
• There are 8 national missions which forms the core of the NAPCC which represent multi-pronged, long term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in climate change.These are-