Use & Conservation of Agrobiodiversity for Food and Nutrition Project

Sponsor: Bioversity International
Location: Hatibari block of Sambalpur district

Major Achievements: This project promotes the in-situ conservation and sustainable use of indigenous crop varieties to strengthen community-led food and nutrition security in tribal regions of Sambalpur. Through participatory trials and seed saving initiatives, the project has supported the revival of local agrobiodiversity and empowered farming communities to preserve their traditional agricultural heritage.

During the year, the project engaged 212 tribal families across nine villages, establishing eight mother trials and 200 baby trial plots to identify suitable traditional varieties through field-level evaluation. 62 indigenous crop varieties were cultivated and assessed, and 100 nutrition gardens were developed using native seeds to encourage household-level food diversity

A community seed bank preserving 50 seed varieties across 10 crop species was strengthened, while 77 seed savers were formally identified and encouraged to contribute to local seed conservation efforts. Additionally, four traditional recipes using native crops were documented as part of the knowledge preservation initiative.