Bhubaneswar: Utkal Alumina International Ltd (UAIL), an Aditya Birla Group company, has been enriching lives in Odisha by raising income levels through zero-based budgeting in cultivable land.
Project UANAT, Utkal’s Action for Agricultural Transformation, has been implemented in Rengansahil village of Kashipur block in Odisha’s Rayagada district.
The project, a CSR initiative of UAIL, entails use of organic pesticide and manure to ensure sustainable farming and stem environmental damage caused by chemical pesticides.
“Project UANAT is a flagship livelihood initiative by Utkal Alumina, in collaboration with Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundations (BRLF) and Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD). The project, part of our manifold CSR initiatives, aims to enrich the lives of farmers through farm-based livelihood interventions. Our goal is to double the income of 15,000 small and marginal households of Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi and Kashipur, Odisha. Our timeline is 4 years,” said UAIL unit head Mazhar Beig.
Under the project, women farmers have been trained to make natural pesticides with Vermicompost (organic manure), Jibamrut (natural pesticide) and Nimastra (natural pesticide) as base material. Cow dung, cow urine, neem leaves, jaggery, which are integral to making natural crop protection agents, are available in abundance.
A total of 185 women farmers from five villages have thus far been trained to champion use of natural pesticides, recoursing to demonstration plots. These women farmers move their knowledge around and train other farmers.
As many as 1,560 households do organic farming on about 1192.5 acres of land across 73 villages in Odisha, with 282 units of Vermicompost beds having been set up.
The project will cover other villages too.
