Bhubaneswar, 07 November (H.S.): The Odisha government has drawn up a roadmap to promote healthier rice, traditional rice varieties and millets through technology integration, value addition and women-led entrepreneurship, with a focus on enhancing farmers' incomes and strengthening nutritional security.

Deputy Chief Minister and Agriculture and Energy Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, along with Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Women and Child Development, Mission Shakti and Tourism Pravati Parida, visited the upcoming specialty rice and millet value-addition facilities and Odisha Bazar at Baramunda in Bhubaneswar on Friday. They held detailed discussions with scientists from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), senior officials of the Agriculture Department, Mission Shakti, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) and Odisha Agro Industries Corporation (OAIC) on strategies to make healthier rice, millets and value-added food products accessible to people across the state.

The Agriculture Department also organised a workshop to formulate an implementation strategy and institutional framework for the initiative. The programme aims to sustainably increase farmers' incomes while ensuring nutritional security through technological interventions and inclusive agricultural value chains.

The discussions highlighted the untapped potential of Odisha's heritage rice varieties. Apart from increasing their production and consumption as cooked rice, the initiative will focus on developing nutritious, value-added products using broken rice and rice bran, thereby generating additional income and premium market opportunities for farmers and other stakeholders.

IRRI-developed nutritious rice varieties, Odisha's traditional rice varieties and millets will be used to manufacture value-added products at the proposed processing facility. Singh Deo announced that the facility would be named the Odisha Agricultural Centre of Excellence for Value Addition (Agri-CEVA).

He said the centre would help position Odisha as a national leader in preventive nutrition, healthier food systems and value-added products based on rice and millets.

IRRI will work closely with the Agriculture Department and Mission Shakti to provide technical expertise in healthy rice production, processing, logistics, traceability, quality certification and the development of healthier rice-based products. Meanwhile, the Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Limited (APICOL) will facilitate market linkages and develop a sustainable business plan to operationalise the specialty rice and millet processing facility.

The initiative will integrate production, processing, branding and marketing, strengthening domestic retail networks and export opportunities. Processing-based agricultural transformation is also expected to reduce post-harvest losses, improve product shelf life and help Odisha-origin products reach distant domestic and international markets in branded and processed forms.

A major component of the project will be strengthening women-led enterprises and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) through improved production capabilities, quality assurance, food safety practices and continuous capacity building. The initiative will also provide technical guidance and mentorship to make these enterprises commercially sustainable and competitive.

Agri-CEVA will provide shared infrastructure and common processing facilities to Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), women SHGs, Mission Shakti groups, startups and rural enterprises, connecting farmers directly with value addition, branding, processing and premium markets.

Our vision is clear. We want every farmer to earn more, every woman entrepreneur to grow confidently, every district to participate in value addition, and Odisha to emerge as a global destination for healthier rice, heritage rice and millet innovation, Singh Deo said.

Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the Agriculture Department Sachin Ramachandra Jadhav said the objective was to build a future-ready institutional platform where policy support, innovation, entrepreneurship and market access would collectively translate into prosperity for farmers and women stakeholders across Odisha.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda