Bhubaneswar: In a major step to revive traditional crops and indigenous food culture of Odisha, the state government has launched a new scheme. The initiative is christened ‘Revival and Sustainable Intensification of Forgotten Food and Neglected Crops in Odisha’.
To be implemented across 25 blocks in 15 districts over a five-year period (2025–26 to 2029–30), the scheme aims to benefit around 60,000 farmers by encouraging the cultivation of long-overlooked crops. These areas have been strategically selected near biodiversity hotspots and ecologically significant regions.
Launched by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, the scheme focuses on conservation, cultivation, value addition, marketing, and awareness generation around traditional crops. It seeks to revive Odisha’s rich agricultural heritage, especially within tribal and rural communities, an official statement said on Wednesday.
Noting that Odisha is home to 64 tribal communities, many of whom have historically served as custodians of agrobiodiversity, it said these communities have traditionally cultivated and consumed a variety of crops including tubers, pulses, oilseeds, leafy vegetables, and wild fruits.
The scheme outlines several key objectives, including germplasm collection and documentation of associated food cultures, indigenous technical knowledge supporting community conservation through custodian farmers and community live seed banks through state resource centre, promoting the cultivation of forgotten landraces with incentives and technical support, developing post-harvest processing and value addition, generating awareness in both rural and urban areas about traditional food & neglected crops, facilitating marketing through various channels like FPOs and WSHGs, including potential exports, and fostering research and multi-stakeholder collaboration while protecting farmers’ rights.
A major highlight is the introduction of the Kamala Pujari Participatory Research Fellowship, which will document traditional knowledge and neglected crops in collaboration with community custodians.
Expected outcomes of the scheme include the documentation of numerous landraces and traditional recipes, increased availability of indigenous foods, nutritional profiling, the creation of an open digital knowledge platform, and positioning Odisha as a global model for the revival of forgotten and neglected crops, said Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment Arabinda Kumar Padhee.
