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Ask anyone; he will say that Odisha is a poor state. Statistically, Odisha is among the 9 poorest states in India. Interestingly, Odisha has a very long coastline, many perennial rivers, 8,746,000 hectares of agricultural land, and many industries. Its GDP stands at 14th rank in India as of now.
But then Odisha is also among the 9 poorest states in India. Why is it so? Where do things go wrong? Why is Odisha not a developed state? Why does it remain poor despite a lot of schemes and programs by the government?
Odisha’s per capita income is Rs 161437, which is less than 12.4% of India’s per capita income of Rs 184205. That means, by Indian standards, Odisha is also trailing. Next, per capita income is a statistical calculation. But technically, 90% of Odisha’s population is poor and may be having less than Rs 10,000 per capita income. What would be the reason?
82% of Odisha’s population lives in rural areas. 76% of the population is employed in agriculture. Odisha’s agriculture contributes just 30% towards the state’s GDP. There is the problem. If 76% of the population is contributing just 30%, then the poverty must be there. Odisha’s agriculture is increasing by 3.5% every year, which is the real problem.
In Odisha, 8,746,000 hectares are cultivated every year. Out of this, only 1,879,000 hectares (21.48%) are under irrigation. That means around 79% of cultivable land depends on rain only. Even those that are under irrigation facilities are subjected to nature’s fury in the form of untimely rain, cyclones, and such other issues.
It’s not that governments are not trying to build infrastructure for irrigation. But the projects are very slow and marred with litigation, local problems, and various other bottlenecks. Then just providing irrigation can’t solve the problem. It requires technology to improve the agricultural output.
Israel is a barren country. It is surrounded by enemy countries, for which it’s in constant war mode. Yet its agriculture is technologically driven and mostly self-sufficient. Its agricultural produce is 10 billion dollars a year, and it exports fresh produce.
The Odisha government should focus on bringing technologies into the agricultural fields. There are a lot of technologies such as protected farming, vertical farming, soilless farming (such as hydroponic, aeroponic, etc.), integrated farming, etc. Well, such technologies and required infrastructure come at a cost that Odisha’s farmers can’t afford. Here the state government can help through subsidies, imparting technical know-how and assisting the farmers.
The Odisha government can also invite industrialists to invest in farm sectors by providing such technologies and buy-back agreements like contract farming. Organic farming can be done through contract farming. I am not saying that there are no such government schemes. What lacks are the focus and funding. Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan are leaders in implementing technologies into the farm sector. Technologies are also being deployed in MP, UP, Chhattisgarh, etc. Odisha should also do that in a big way. As this is a double-engine government, the center should also extend its support.
In uncultivable lands, food forests can be created, which will help the populations living nearby who are mostly tribal. If food forests can be created in the Sahara Desert, why not in Odisha?
People of Odisha are laborious. If they get proper technologies and fund support, they can reap gold for the state. Will the government of Odisha focus on this farm issue to make Odisha a developed state?
