About Project
MSSRF has been awarded to establish a DBT Biotech-KISAN hub in aspirational districts of Eastern plateau and hills in Odisha and Western Ghats in Kerala with a focus to improving farming practices, sustainable use of soil and water and to create access to rural processing technologies, value addition and markets.
Biotech-KISAN scheme is a farmer-centric scheme for farmers, developed by and with farmers. It is a Pan-India program, following a hub-and-spoke model and stimulates entrepreneurship and innovation in farmers and empowers women. The Biotech-KISAN hub caters to fulfil the technology needs of small and marginal farmers and to generate agriculture and bio-resource based livelihoods at the local level. This is a farmer-centric scheme promoted to meet the locale-specific needs in production and processing of agricultural produces by linking them with Hi-tech scientific laboratories/institutions and to identify and promote local farm leadership who help to develop science-based farming besides facilitating the transfer of knowledge.
MSSRF will implement the project in four aspirational districts, namely Koraput, Malkangiri, and Rayagada in Odisha and Wayanad in Kerala and the primary target groups are tribal men and women farmers in partnership with two of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) Institutions
- Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC), Sunabeda, Odisha
- Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR), Kozhikode, Kerala.
The main hub is set up at MSSRF, Chennai and the two sub hubs each one set up in the aspirational districts of Odisha and Wayanad; at the Tribal Agrobiodiversity centre (TAbC), MSSRF, Jeypore and Community Agrobiodiversity centre (CAbC), MSSRF, Wayanad respectively in partnership with IISWC, in Odisha and IISR, in Kerala. The project envisaged,
- To promote eco-friendly technologies to enhance soil health and sustainability.
- To create access to quality agricultural planting materials, inputs and location specific technologies to minimize yield gap in crops cultivated in Aspirational districts of Odisha and Wayanad.
- To leverage local specific processing facilities and appropriate market linkages for value-added produces/products through appropriate community-based organisations at ground level.
- To improve men and women farmer’s income in farming by improving their access to productive resources such as technology, knowledge and skill, institutional links to market, farm machinery services through awareness, training and convergence.
- To strengthen capacity of scientist and farmers to address agro-ecological issues and arrive at local specific solutions through the KISAN hubs. To promote location-specific improved agronomic packages of practices, IPM, INM and eco-friendly technologies for cultivation of millets and pulses in Odisha and coffee and pepper in Wayanad, Kerala.
DBT link
KISAN Hub is a new programme funded by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India (GOI), under DBT’s mission programme, Biotech-Krishi Innovation Science Application Network (Biotech-KISAN) that empowers farmers through science and technology.