Bhubaneswar, July 23: Cultivation of a second crop in fallow lands post-rice harvest has proven to be a game changer for the farmers in Odisha. The State government's ‘Rice Fallow Management’ scheme is a transformative agricultural initiative.

Atmashakti Trust, while working with the farmers belonging to the marginalized SC and ST communities, has experienced very encouraging outcomes from this initiative.

‘Rice Fallow Management scheme is aimed at increasing income for tribal and marginal farmers in zero-irrigation areas, reducing distress migration, improving soil fertility through pulse cultivation, and combating malnutrition
Despite initial implementation-level challenges, the scheme has shown promising results.

According to the Jal Jeevan Mission Shakti report, Odisha's SC and ST populations total 16,418,360, with over 80% lacking access to irrigation. The state has 4.5 million hectares of land under rice cultivation, but average productivity is only about 1.5 tons per hectare. Consequently, many farmers leave their land fallow after the Kharif season, leading to seasonal unemployment and forcing them to migrate to the neighboring states to meet their financial need.

Atmashakti Trust has been working with the marginalised tribal and Dalit communities in sixteen districts of Odisha where agriculture remains the primary source of income.

Reaching out to over 11 lakh families we have taken various initiatives in the field of malnutrition, sustainable agriculture, education and women empowerment, said Atmashakti Trust.

Odisha’s reliance on rain-fed agriculture results in 74% of cultivated land lying fallow for six months after the Kharif season. Small landholdings, pose subsistence challenges and often lead to distress migration. In response, Atmashakti Trust initiated a series of awareness and capacity building activities to promote second crop cultivation during the Rabi season by mobilizing seeds from the Odisha government's rice fallow management program.

Approximately 23,000 farmers received free government seeds for Rabi in 2022-23 in 4 districts (Gajapati, Boudh, Nabarangpur, and Deogarh) where Atmashakti is actively present.

A study done by Atmashakti among 4,003 farmers revealed that cultivating pulses like Green gram, Black gram, horse gram and chickpea generated an income of Rs 18,000 by sowing approximately 8 kilograms of seeds on 1.1 acres of land.

The study also shows that 90% of farmers who were provided free seeds in 2022-23, grew pulses in 2023-24 without any support from the government. This demonstrates long term sustainability for the process.

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