In August, ILRI organized a workshop entitled ‘Improving Livestock Feeding Practice and Enhancement of Feed and Fodder Availability in Odisha’ in collaboration with Society for Management of Information, Learning and Extension (SMILE). It was inaugurated by Pradeep Maharathy, Minister, Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department, Government of Odisha. The minister, in his inaugural address, placed special emphasis on promoting green fodder cultivation and feeding of processed and enriched crop residues especially paddy straw and maize stover to dairy animals in the state.

Gokul Chandra Pati, Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha, urged participants to focus on three key issues – high cost of animal feed, severe shortage of green fodder and lack of awareness among farmers about balanced feeding practices with available resources. He encouraged farmers to adopt better feeding practices by cultivating fodder as crop, which could be integrated in their annual cropping calendar, instead of relying solely on concentrate feed, which is not cost-efficient.

Highlighting ILRI’s work, Agricultural Economist Nils Teufel shared that livestock is already playing an important role in improving livelihoods in South Asia and that these same efforts can be replicated by applying relevant research findings to the Odisha context. During the workshop, findings from 10 scientific papers on feed and fodder were presented. Participants of the workshop included academics from OUAT and Utkal University, senior government officials, representatives from Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (OMFED), farmers from across the state and national NGOs such as JK Trust and BAIF Development Research Foundation.