Our Engagements
'6C's of
Livelihood Alternatives
Collectivization
Majority of farmers in Odisha can be categorized as small and marginal, given the size of their farmlands. This serves as an impediment when it comes scalability, aggregation and marketability of their agro-produce. With a view to overcoming this limitation, under the 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) scheme, the government intends to aggregate farmers and their produce. Each block in the state will have an FPO to cater to such objectives.
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Livelihood Alternatives (LA), in association with Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SoA) University and Siddha Development Research and Consultancy (SDRC), is engaged in the process of transforming the rural landscape through leveraging the power of the collectives. In this context, LA is associated with 54 FPOs, involving more than 25,000 farmers, having a total acreage under cultivation, amounting to approximately 37,500 acres.
Capacity Development
Capacity development is a crucial aspect of empowering rural collectives, ensuring they have the necessary skill-set, knowledge, and resources to operate effectively and sustainably. By focusing on capacity development, rural collectives can improve productivity, enhance quality of their produce, ensure diversification of their cropping pattern and create better market-linkage so as to improve their income.
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Capacity development is undertaken in association with academia, research institutions and by way of exposure visits. LA has also tailored context-specific training programs that address the unique challenges of the FPO eco-system. LA employs a combination of theoretical and practical training methods that enhances learning and application. There are modules that train officials (CEOs and Accountants) as well as the Board of Directors (BODs) of the FPOs, on corporate management and compliance requirements. For the agrarian community, in association with SOA University, regular sessions on good agricultural practices on various crops are undertaken.
Collaboration
Livelihood Alternatives employs an eco-system approach that brings together various players working in the rural livelihood space on a common platform, creating necessary synergy to the initiatives. We collaborate with institutions such as government bodies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia, research institutions, input companies, international research organizations, start-ups and private sector companies - to provide necessary impetus for creating value for all stakeholders in the value-chain.
