Getting rid of starvation deaths, Odisha emerges as India’s 5th largest rice producer
Disha, once notorious for starvation deaths, is now India’s fifth-largest rice producer, showcasing the power of institution-building and irrigation investment, said State Development Commissioner Anu Garg at an IFPRI-ICAR policy dialogue in New Delhi. Officials highlighted Odisha’s climate resilience and gender-responsive initiatives, stressing regional cooperation for sustainable, inclusive food systems amid climate challenges.
Odisha’s journey, once infamous for starvation deaths, to becoming the fifth-largest rice producer in India, shows what determined institution-building and investment in irrigation can achieve, a senior official claimed on Thursday.
State Development Commissioner Anu Garg, participating in a high-level regional policy dialogue, “Food Policy for a Changing World: Lessons and Priorities for South Asia”, convened at New Delhi by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) stated this while reflecting the State’s progress over the years.
”Today, our focus is on embedding climate resilience into agriculture so that this progress endures,” she further stated.
Further elaborating State’s progress, Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, said, ”Odisha is perhaps one of the few states where we have both a climate resilience cell (CRC) and are going to have a Gender Responsive Cell (GRC).”
”Through the CRC and the GRC, we wanted to build into our design the gender and climate lens from the beginning,” Padhee said, noting that regional cooperation initiatives, such as Seeds without Borders, demonstrate how cross-country collaboration can accelerate the spread of climate-resilient varieties.
The event also marked the South Asia launch of IFPRI’s 2025 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR). The dialogue brought together senior policymakers, researchers, and development partners to reflect on how South Asia can secure resilient, inclusive, and sustainable food systems amid mounting pressures of climate change, malnutrition, and demographic transitions.
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