Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Thursday discussed about the Spain model of post harvest value addition to agriculture produce.
The ADB expert and chief of rural development and food security, agriculture, SDCC, Akmal Siddiq, said that countries like Spain and Uzbekistan have brought huge success for the farmers as well as the marketers. Better capacity building, good packaging centre, finance to technically sound cold storages, good wholesale market were some of the key factors of the success modles, he added. He also said the ADB will be pleased to converge with Odisha in such initiatives.
At a high level meeting on development of agriculture marketing and cold chain infrastructure in Odisha with officials from ADB was held under the chairmanship of agriculture production commissioner, Pradipta Kumar Mahapatra, here on Thursday.
Agriculture principal secretary Saurabh Garg, vice president, private sector & co-financing, ADB, Diwakar Gupta, cooperation secretary Vir Vikram Yadav, agriculture director M Muthukumar, investment specialist Tushna Dora, additional secretary Mary Lakra, APICOL MD S Dey and officials of Nabard and PWC, horticulture were present. ce President, Private Sector & Co-financing, Asian Development Bank, Vir Vikram Yadav, Commissioner cum Secretary, Cooperation Department attended it. Among others Dr M Muthukumar, IAS, Director, Agriculture & FP, Akmal Siddiq, Tushna Dora, Investment Specialist, Mary Lakra, Additional Secretary, DAFE, Dr S Dey, MD, APICOL, officers from NABARD, PWC, Horticulture were some of the participants.
The meeting was based upon how to improve value chain infrastructure, existing market linkage system in Odisha by having technical assistance from ADB which will help the farmers in getting right value for produces.
Garg emphasized that it is time for the State to focus more on post-harvest management, market linkage, capacity building. Earlier the focus was more upon production and productivity, now agriculture marketing board with guidance from ADB can help create a better market condition for the farmers of Odisha.
ADB VP Diwakar Gupta explained the importance of intervention of private sectors to make it commercially viable for both the farmers and the marketers. The farmers should have better market access helped by good storage capacity and less volatility.
APC Mahapatra said that mechanism should be put in place to understand actual demand of produces which will balance the fluctuation of price of produces.
Director, Agriculture & Food production Dr Muthukumar gave a brief presentation on the current scenario of Agriculture and Horticulture in Odisha.The touch points of his presentation were based upon major produced commodities (Fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and spices), status of cold chain and other infrastructure.
Odisha State Agriculture Marketing Board is already workingwith PWC (Price Waterhouse Cooper) to enhance capacity building, improving market linkage and preparing models for post-harvest management in Odisha.
