In September 2002 , upon request of Jan Morrenhof, a short reconnaissance survey was made to see if there would be opportunities to start a PTD process with tribal farmers in Ganjam and Gajapathi Districts of Orissa. It was decided between the NGO’s, NRMPO and ETC that it would be worthwhile to start a small initiative in 2003. Initially seven NGO’s expressed interest.
 

• Selection of villages representative for the area of operation of an NGO;

• Problem analysis in the villages selected;

• A workshop to compose a basket of options for: paddy, maize and ragi;

• Organisation of farmers;

• Selection of experiments;

• Organisation of inputs;

• Experimentation by farmers;

• Evaluation of the results;

• Farmers workshop;

• State level workshop.

In the process two NGO’s could not cope with the workload and decided to opt out of the process. So the whole process was completed by five NGO’s.
 

Sangita and Shalini of NRMPO were able, due to relentless efforts, to mobilise the active involvement of DoA staff. This resulted in three JAO’s actively supporting the NGO’s. The commitment of the District Collector was crucial. Further technical support was provided by Dr. Ray, retired Vice Chancelor of OUAT and Rice breeder. Daily technical support was considered by the JAO’s to be less than desired. We are presently looking for ways to increase that support.

Process support was given by ETC through Dr C. Ravikumar and Mans Lanting. Dr Ravikumar was present on a monthly basis and strictly guided the NGO’s in their activities.