''Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav'' - Selection of Villages

Team-1 of ICAR-CIWA

Under the programme “Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav” Team-1 of ICAR-Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar visited villages of Puri district on 30th September 2015. Five villages namely Kadua, Talapatna, Chanagoroda, Bila Sahi and Behera Sahi from Satyabadi block of Puri district have been selected. Focused group discussions were held with the villagers and village leaders of these villages and Mrs. Kanaklata Panda, Mr. Ranjan Parida, Mrs. Rini Parida, Mrs. Mahi Rout and Mrs. Binati Parida were identified as key informants of the respective villages. The purpose of visit and village selection under Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav initiative, and motive behind it has been discussed with the villagers. It is observed that women are more enthusiastic to participate in the entrepreneurial activities and showed their concerns regarding the problems. There is great potential for organizing and motivating youth and women for leadership and entrepreneurship development. The majority of households are smallholder, with significant numbers of households headed by women. The general problems observed in the selected villages are poor sanitation facilities, water shortage during summer, poor remuneration in nonfarm activities due to existence of middlemen and wild animal attack. The agricultural problems are pest and diseases in paddy, difficult harvesting of coconuts, poor access to agricultural inputs and technologies, poor marketing linkage, unavailability of women friendly technologies, etc. Further detailed bench mark survey and its compilation are in progress. The activities planned for the selected village in line with the objectives of the program are:

These activities will also help to address the mandate of the Institute. It has been decided that the team will visit the selected villages minimum once in a month and special visits before crop seasons. The queries raised by the farmers and farm women were efficiently answered by the ICAR-CIWA team consisting of Dr. S. K. Srivastava, Director and Principal Scientist (Agril. Entomology), Dr. Jyoti Nayak, Senior Scientist (Family Resource Management), Dr. S. Tanuja, Scientist (Fish Processing Technology), Dr. Shivaji Dadabhau Argade, Scientist (Agricultural Extension), Mrs. Geeta Saha, Technical Officer and Mr. Atul Chetam Hemrom, Technical Assistant.

Glimpse of visit under Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav initiative (ICAR-CIWA: Team 1)

Team-3 of ICAR-CIWA

As part of the innovative initiative viz., “Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav'', the multi-disciplinary Team Number-3 of ICAR-CIWA, comprising Dr. Naresh Babu, Principal Scientist (Horticulture), Dr. Biswanath Sahoo, Senior Scientist (Animal Nutrition), Dr. J. Charles Jeeva, Senior Scientist (Ag. Extension), Ms. Gayatri Moharana, Scientist (FRM), Smt. Tapaswini Sahoo, Technical Assistant and Shri. Sanjay Kumar Behera, Technical Assistant, visited the villages in Cuttack district in two spells.

During the first spell on 23rd September, 2015, the team visited the Social Science Division of ICAR-CRRI, Cuttack and held discussions with the Scientists and KVK staff, for their suggestions on identification of potential villages for the MGMG programme. Later, the team visited the following villages along the Mahanadi river banks viz.,

During the visit, interactions were held with key informants and progressive farmers. Preliminary assessment of farms and the agricultural resources revealed that the villages are very progressive, and have good linkages with the line departments. Market linkages are also good, as the villages are nearer to Cuttack city.

During the second spell on 29th September, 2015, the team visited the following five villages viz.,

During the visit, focussed group discussions and interactions were held with village leaders, progressive farmers and farm women. The village resources were also assessed through transect walks with the villagers. During both the visits, the farmers were also provided with required information, knowledge and advisories on standing crops and livestock resources.

On completion of the two off-campus visits, intra-team deliberations were held, and on considering the factors such as the agricultural resources, progressiveness of the villages, the linkages of villages with the line departments, access of the villages to the advisory services/ technical information, and the enthusiasm of the villagers in participation in the MGMG programme, the team finalized the above five villages visited during the second spell.