On 22 February, CSISA facilitated a Convergence Platform (CP) meeting with LDS (pulses) review, jointly led by the Directorate of Extension Education, OUAT (Bhubaneswar) and ICAR-ATARI (Kolkata) in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.

Project partners, public and private stakeholders (around 57 participants) from Odisha and West Bengal, along with progressive farmers and Service Providers, participated in the meeting.

The data and research on DSR-suitability landscapes, varietal performance, and overall productivity, profitability and sustainability of mechanized-DSR based cropping systems were shared by the CSISA-DSR Odisha team.

The participants also deliberated about developing common agri-advisory messages for Rabi 2023-24 and Kharif 2024 through the Convergence Platform’s single window system. The CP members also explored collaboration with Mukhyamantri Makka Mission (MMM). Additionally, planning for the Landscape Diagnostic Survey for Pulses to be undertaken by 5 to 6-KVKS of Odisha and 4-KVKs of West Bengal in collaboration with CSISA in 2024, including training of enumerators, was discussed.

Key interventions – training, varietal seeds, mechanization – to support and scale rice-based cropping system through DSR with pulses/oil seeds were discussed at length. Partners and stakeholders are committed to implementing recommendations and monitoring current efforts to scale DSR intensification in the rice-fallow system in the state.

For the full report, you can read the minutes of the meeting here…