Nabarangpur

Nabarangpur district, situated in the verdant landscapes of south-western Odisha, is predominantly agricultural. The district comprises one sub-division, 10 blocks, and 885 villages, with a population of 12,20,946 of which 55.79% are Scheduled Tribes. 90% of the district’s population relies on farming for their livelihood.  The economy is primarily agrarian, focusing on crops like maize, paddy, ragi, and pulses, supported by livestock rearing, wage labour, and NTFP collection.

Harsha Trust began operations in 2012, through the poultry cooperative program supported by SDTT and BILT in Nabarangpur block. Partnerships with institutional donors like Axis Bank Foundation, EY Foundation, HT Parekh Foundation, and NABARD expanded efforts in institution building, livelihood security, and irrigation. By 2023, new initiatives like ‘Swayamshree’ aimed to strengthen entrepreneurial development, saturating 9 blocks, focusing on improving livelihoods and nutrition security for rural households. While the initial approach was towards income enhancement, currently, Harsha Trust’s initiatives span across 534 villages, covering 9 blocks, engaging with 53,587 households with a focus on enhancing livelihoods, strengthening community institutions, ensuring nutrition security, boosting income levels, and promoting women’s entrepreneurship development.

Key highlights/progress in the year (2023-24) 

• Raghubar Das- Governor of Odisha expressed his happiness on witnessing the functioning of Sahayak FPO and commended the involvement of FPOs in promoting sustainable agriculture in this district. He instructed the district administration to support all the emerging FPOs and to ensure that the Government schemes reach the needy people.
• 450 number of Aerobic compost units have been set up at Kosagumuda Block with support from ICRISAT
• Harsha Trust, Kosagumuda, has begun functioning as a resource agency in implementing the Integrated Farming Cluster at Kosagumuda Block.
• 500 ha of Pigeon Pea cultivation have been mobilized from ICRISAT, benefitting around 2,193 Households.
• 405 ha of Chick Pea have been mobilized from the Agriculture Department.
• 7 Check dams, 134 deep bore wells, 53 farm ponds, and 34 Micro river lift irrigation systems have been mobilized from DRDA, OLIC, DRDA and OAIC, respectively. The financial worth of these convergence initiatives is around Rs. 7.8 Crore.