Odisha to support FSN intervention

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Nov 18: R.S.Gopalan, Director Agriculture, Government of Odisha has promised to offer full support for Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) intervention in Odisha.While expressing happiness over the research data presented so far by MSSRF researchers working under the Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA) programme, Gopalan said that the State Government will provide logistic and seed support for the successful implementation of FSN intervention in Odisha.This came towards the end for a two-hour intensive discussion at a Technical Platform meeting of agriculture-nutrition stakeholders on Monday at Bhubaneswar, organised by MSSRF and LANSA to present research-based evidence being prepared under the FSN intervention study under LANSA in India. The Farming System for Nutrition Initiative (FSN) is being piloted by MSSRF in a cluster of villages in Koraput district, Odisha and Wardha district, Maharashtra.With a view to leverage the technical expertise available on the ground at both locations, and also to learn from and build on the experience of organisations and agencies operating at the grassroot level in these areas, Technology and Stakeholder Platforms are constituted.The platforms comprise both ‘knowledge partners’ who guide the initiative and ‘intervention partners’ who work with us at the field level in on-farm demonstrations and provide support services.The technology platform comprises of representatives from research institutions, agricultural and veterinary university and private sector, while the stakeholder platform comprises members from the district administration, banks (district lead bank, NABARD), farmers’ associations, NGOs, civil society, and farm men and women.The Technology Platform in Koraput has as it members Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack; Regional Centres of the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute and Indian Council of Medical Research, Bhubaneswar; Liaison Office of International Potato Centre (CIP), Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Centre for Water Management, Directorate for Research on Women in Agriculture (DWRA), and Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Bhubaneswar as well as Jain Irrigation from the private sectorLANSA is multi-institutional international research consortium working to reduce malnutrition of vulnerable population in four countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.MSSRF is the lead research institute of the Consortium.