Kandhamalକନ୍ଧମାଳ

What the plan promotes

• ▸Crop production is the largest opportunity at Rs 535.17 cr (41% of the plan); the cropping pattern favours paddy, turmeric, maize, mustard, millets and vegetables, with a gradual shift to remunerative crops like hybrid maize, potato, groundnut, ginger and tissue-culture banana.
• ▸Kandhamal turmeric ('Kandhamal Haldi') carries a Geographical Indication (GI) tag and is organic by default; KASAM (Kandhamal Apex Spices Association for Marketing), a farmers' society of 12,000+ tribal farmers, exports ~1,500 MT to European countries and is the only FPO exporting turmeric here.
• ▸The district has been selected for an Agri Export Zone (AEZ) for turmeric and ginger and produces organic vegetables and organic spices, opening scope for food-processing industries.
• ▸Food & agro processing (Rs 9.97 cr line) covers turmeric powder (big and small units), ginger powder, oil mill, sal & siali leaf-based industries, tamarind concentrate, rice huller, dal mill, mixture/namkin and bakery units.
• ▸A Mega Food Park on 50 acres (Rs 50 cr outlay) and a Research Institute on Turmeric Product are proposed; a 25-acre Mini Food Park (Rs 15 cr) is proposed under Odisha Food Processing Policy 2013.
• ▸Term-loan farm activities are led by farm mechanisation (Rs 44.02 cr; power tillers, agro-service centres, second-hand tractors), sheep/goat/piggery (Rs 38.22 cr), plantation & horticulture incl. sericulture (Rs 34.87 cr) and poultry (Rs 19.71 cr).

Gaps the plan names

• ▸Agrarian economy where 95% of farmers are small/marginal with fragmented holdings averaging 0.88 ha, low productivity, limited crop diversification and a poor rural banking network; banks urged to earmark 10% of loans for small & marginal farmers.
• ▸Irrigation is largely protective and one-crop only: only ~22% of net cultivated area is irrigated in Kharif and ~26% in Rabi, needing more minor-irrigation projects and promotion of solar water-lifting devices; increasing irrigated area and seed replacement rate is the critical intervention for crops.
• ▸MSME sector remains under-developed with high unemployment, no significant large/medium industry and stagnation in growth; poor road access (no rail link, pockets inaccessible in the rainy season) and unreliable power supply hold back industrial units.
• ▸Only 5.51 acres of Category-A industrial land is immediately available (vs 1,052.83 acres Category-B reserved), and ~70% of the district is forest/reserved forest, so 'Environment Aspect' must be considered when promoting mega projects.
• ▸No bank branch provides export credit despite GI-tagged turmeric export potential; APEDA promotion, direct producer-to-export-house linkage and awareness seminars with CII/Chamber of Commerce are the suggested action points.