[Watch] Odisha Govt Signs Agri Pact With Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bhubaneswar: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation signed an MoU with the Odisha government for enabling inclusive agriculture transformation in the state on Tuesday.

Senior officials from the Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Department as well as the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department signed the MoU at Krushi Bhawan in the state capital.

“This will improve the lives and livelihood of small and marginal farmers in the state. With this signing, the government envisages to strengthen its programmes by accessing expertise, technology and high-impact innovations,” the government said in a release,

“There will be endeavour to bring sustainable production, food quality improvement, reduce vulnerability to drought, pest and other climate-related risk through advanced soil and water resource management,” it added.

Earlier in 2017, the Odisha government had signed an MoU worth Rs 32 crore with the Foundation for implementation of Analytics for Decision-making and Agriculture Policy Transformation (ADAPT) project.

The MoU was aimed at improving the lives of smallholder farmers and promoting inclusive agricultural transformation in Odisha.