Promotion of Agriculture Production Clusters (APC)
in tribal regions of Odisha

About the Project

The Government of Odisha launched a special program on the Promotion of Agriculture Production Clusters (APCs) in tribal regions of Odisha on 6th November 2018 in the presence of the Honourable Chief Minister of Odisha. This is a collaborative effort by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Department of Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water, Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF), Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) and 14 other CSOs.

APC is one of the most successful projects of the Government of Odisha and has been featured in several national and international media for its unique model and implementation strategy.

In the 7th State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) meeting for APC project held on 13th June 2023 and looking at the success of the program, It was decided to launch APC 2nd phase with support of BRLF to launch APC’s second phase (APC 2.0) with a new set of families of 2000 in each block into the fold of PG and PC, in addition to the existing 3000 families.

The first phase of APC focused on forming and nurturing institutions, building backwards and forward market linkages, creating critical infrastructure, building livelihood assets, etc. Now, APC 2.0 will focus more on covering additional new households, facilitating value chain development, adding more livelihood options, increasing the community’s access to the market, etc.

Goal

The goal of the project is to trigger growth in the farm sector to double the income of sustainably- two lakh small and marginal farmers in the backward highland regions of Odisha.

Objectives

The key objective is to establish the model of Agriculture Production Cluster (APC) in 40 backward blocks of the state as an effective method to organise production system and services of markets.

Key Strategies

• Formation and strengthening of 640 new Producer Groups across 40 blocks. The major focus will be on the release of pending IB/CB and WC money from Mission Shakti & OLM
• Improved farming technology with drip, sprinkler, mulching, soil less nursery, multilayer model across the project area.
• Envisaged to cover at least 50% of the covered crop area under Non-Pesticide Management (NPM)
• The project will focus on regularizing the vaccination and deworming services and intensive livestock rearing across APC blocks
• Achieving the plantation targets for each block and special focus will be on short duration plantations like papaya, drumstick, and banana in feasible locations.
• More focus on post-harvest management structures through convergence.
• Promotion of agri-entrepreneurs in different farm-based trades in the program area.

Impact Created

• Increase in households under high value crops cultivation: 109% [from 44370 to 93191 HH’s
• Increase in area under high value crops cultivation: 251% [from 24971 to 87636 acres]
• 67.8 % Increase in average area under high value crops per household
• Increase in area under non pesticide management: 479% [from 5415 to 31392 acres]
• Increase in area under fruit tree plantation; 606% [from 2773 to 19584]
• Increase in collective marketing is around 672% [1013 to 6816 lakhs]
• Total leverage and convergence from line departments: 6411 lakhs