Nuapada

Nuapada district is located in the western part of Odisha. Scheduled Tribes comprise 33.80%, and Scheduled Castes comprise 13.46% of the population. Nuapada comprises 1 sub-division, 5 blocks, 5 tehsils, 131 Gram Panchayats, and 652 villages. With a total population of 6,10,382; the economy is primarily agrarian(major crops are paddy, maize, green gram, black gram, pigeon pea, groundnut, vegetables) and forest economy, with 94.42% of population living in rural areas.

Harsha Trust began operations in the district, in the year 2023-24, in 5 blocks covering 158 villages through the Swayamshree programme supported by Reliance Foundation (RF) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in collaboration with Mission Shakti. Currently, Harsha Trust’s initiatives engage with more than 15,000 households focusing on strengthen entrepreneurial development among rural women.

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

• First phase training for women entrepreneurs on mushroom farming, improved package of practices (PoP) on vegetable cultivation and dal processing has been completed. This has built the capacities of 1723 women in 5 blocks.
• Commercial Vegetable Cultivation: Summer vegetables such as Cowpea, Bitter guard, Onion, Ladies Finger, Pointed Guard, Brinjal and Chilly etc., have been cultivated in 411.6 acres of land with 1,609 HHs in 42 villages of 3 blocks.
• 23,512 poultry vaccination and 28,565 poultry de-worming completed for 3125 HHs in 122 villages in 71 GPs of 5 Blocks; Oyster mushroom farming was initiated by 73 HHs in 3 Blocks.
• A dal processing unit with a capacity of 1 quintal per day has been set up in the Komna block. The unit processes raw green gram into roasted moong dal, yielding approximately 70 kg of the final product per quintal. A marketing tie-up has been established with Mission Shakti Bazaar for the sale of 30 kg per month. Additionally, around 2 quintals of roasted moong dal are sold in local markets and Bhubaneswar.
• A groundnut processing unit has been set up in Nuapada block with the following capacities: Decorticator Machine – 10 quintals per day, Peeling Machine – 4 quintals per day, and Roaster Machine – 3 quintals per day. The unit produces whole seeds, roasted seeds, chikki, and laddoos and market linkages to Nuapada, Raj Khariar, Padampur, Kantabanji, and Udyanbandh have been established.