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Theme: Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture
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Uday Kumar Mondal
umondal@wassan.org
Odisha
2020-2029
The Odisha Rainfed Agricultural Mission (ORAM) is a pioneering programme to develop a new paradigm for undertaking resilient rainfed agriculture. The ORAM Guidelines (2020) developed by the Working Group, which was approved by the State Agriculture Policy of Odisha 2020, adopts an integrated and climate-resilient approach to watershed development. It incorporates increased nutrition, livelihoods and biodiversity with soil and water conservation by seeking to align policies and investments of agricultural and allied departments to ensure sustainable management of natural resources.
The Working Group for ORAM comprised members from OUAT, ICAR, MoA-MANAGE, MoA-NRAA, NCDS, RRA Network (FOLU India), Programme Secretariat (WASSAN), and State Resource Centres of PKVY (SAMBHAV). The Guidelines were approved by the Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Development and are in alignment with the policy priorities of the Odisha Organic Farming Policy 2018 and SAMRUDDHI- State Agriculture Policy of Odisha 2020.
The significance of these Guidelines for the nation stems from the fact that 51% of the gross cropped area is under rainfed agriculture, supporting 61% of the country’s farmers and contributing significantly to nutritionally dense food production. The challenges and opportunities of these rainfed agricultural landscapes urgently need a different policy and implementation framework as envisaged by ORAM.
2020-2024:
2025-2029 (Proposed):
Location: Odisha | 15th September 2020
Virtual meeting of the Working Group for ORAM under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment on 15th September 2020.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of the institutions comprising the Working Group. The Working Group was tasked with creating Guidelines and operational modalities for ORAM.
Location: Odisha | 16th February 2022
State Level Implementation & Monitoring Committee Virtual Meeting of ORAM convened on 16th February 2022.
The meeting comprised representatives from DSCWD, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Government of Odisha, NRAA, and WASSAN, RRA Network. At this meeting technical innovations such as Biochar, formation of technical subcommittees for advising on ORAM and possibilities of convergence with public schemes were discussed.
Location: Odisha | 2nd December 2023
Virtual Meeting held by DSCWD, Government of Odisha with the Programme Secretariat, WASSAN, RRA Network for discussing the implementation of ORAM on 2nd December 2023.
The Programme Secretariat presented DSCWD with a strategic and scalable roadmap, along with a Detailed Project Report for convergence of public schemes in Koraput district for implementation of ORAM. An outcome of this meeting is the drafting of Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment and WASSAN, RRA Network as the Programme Secretariat for implementation of ORAM in two districts in 2024.
Guidelines for Odisha Rainfed Agriculture Mission issued by Department
of Soil Conservation & Watershed Development (DSCWD), Government of Odisha
English 
Detailed field level planning for pilot projects under ORAM
Planning ORAM activities with women farmers
The challenging terrains of rainfed agricultural landscapes, Mohantpur
Landscape level planning exercises
Mixed cropping system in an ORAM village: Millets intercropped with pulses