Promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture for a Resilient Odisha

The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment (DA&FE), Government of Odisha, is implementing a three-year project (2023–2026) funded by the Gates Foundation to enhance climate resilience in the agriculture and allied sectors. CSTEP is the Odisha Climate Support Unit (OCSU) to the Climate Resilience Cell (CRC) established by the project within DA&FE. The project aims to promote climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) and build institutional capacity to address the risk to droughts, floods, heatwaves, and cyclones, while improving farm productivity, resource efficiency, and farmer livelihoods.

1. Enhance farm productivity, improve resource use efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through CSA interventions.
2. Integrate CSA insights into Odisha’s District Action Plans (DAPs) and policies.
3. Capacity building and training of farmers and government functionaries on climate resilience, adaptation, and mitigation.

1. Scoping study and risk profiling: Identify high-risk districts on the basis of climate hazards, GHG emissions, and resource use.
2. CSA practice repository: Document global and region-specific CSA best practices to inform interventions.
3. Life cycle assessment (LCA): Analyse the environmental impact of CSA practices to ensure sustainability and optimise resource use.
4. Policy engagement and knowledge exchange: Develop crop-specific CSA recommendations, considering climate risks, and integrate project insights into existing knowledge platforms. Build a Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Alliance of interested stakeholders working on climate-resilient agriculture in Odisha to foster multi-stakeholder collaboration.
5. DAPs and pilots: Design targeted CSA pilots, leverage the CSA Alliance for implementation, and integrate climate finance mechanisms for sustainability.
6. Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL): Track CSA progress, measure impact, and refine strategies for scaling successful interventions.
7. Capacity building and training: Conduct state- and district-level workshops for government functionaries and farmers on climate science and resilience strategies.

1. Climate-smart policies and district-level strategies for resilient agriculture.
2. Stronger institutional capacity for climate action.
3. Increased adoption of CSA practices, reducing climate risks to extreme climate events.
4. Enhanced climate finance opportunities to scale CSA interventions.

This initiative aims to position Odisha as a leader in climate-resilient agriculture, ensuring sustainable farming systems and food security.

The Promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture for a Resilient Odisha project builds on this imperative by identifying, promoting, and scaling context-appropriate CSA practices. As part of this effort, the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) undertook a mapping exercise to identify key organisations engaged in CSA globally, nationally, and in Odisha. This is not an exhaustive review but is an initial step to support strategic planning and partnership development
for scaling CSA interventions in Odisha and across India. The analysis presents descriptive insights based on a dataset of organisations identified through CSA-related keyword searches. It does not aim to infer broader sectoral trends, but rather summarises priorities, geographies, and organisation types within this sample to inform future engagement.

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