Mr. K.C. Mahapatra

Mr. K.C. Mahapatra (2018)
Progressive Farmer, At/ PO – Kashipur, Distt. Rayagada, Odisha Born of June 6th, 1960 at Kashipur, Rayagada, Odisha, Mr. K.C. Mahapatra did his Bachelors degree in Arts. He started his career at the State horticultural department. Sh. Mahapatra has been an innovative crusader for the resource-deprived tribal farmers to improve their livelihood through scientific cultivation of Amrapali, mango. His constant efforts brought confidence among tribal farmers to take Mango cultivation as a profitable venture. He not only helped them by bridging the technological gap and making quality planting materials of mango available to them but also mobilized them by forming HARPAL (Horticulture and Agriculture Related Panchayats Association for Livelihood)- an association which ensured supply of critical farm inputs and facilitated marketing of mangoes. He played a major role in channelizing the technological support from the Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-IIHR), Bhubaneswar and ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi to the tribal farmers for large scale scientific Mango cultivation. A small beginning made by him has not only tremendously improved the livelihood of tribal farmers of Kashipur Block, but also successfully establishedfruit cultivation as a source of tribal livelihood in the marginal rain-fed hilly regions of Odisha.