Mayurbhanj district bags award for innovation

Bhubaneswar: Mayurbhanj has topped among all districts in adopting innovation and best practices. Nabarangpur and Khurda have secured second and third positions respectively. On Saturday, the government gave away cash awards to collectors of these districts during the two-day collectors' conference.
Mayurbhanj received Rs 25 lakh for adding value to fruit cultivation while Nabarangpur got Rs 15 lakh for its campaign against superstition and Khurda received Rs 10 lakh for eye care for all.The amount would be spent on development of the practices, said chief secretary A P Padhi after chief minister Naveen Patnaik gave away the prizes.
Though Mayurbhanj is a leading producer of fruits like mango, litchi and cashew, farmers were hardly benefitting from it for lack of adequate marketing facility. Instead, the middlemen were buying the fruits from farmers at a very low price. The administration helped farmers form a society, the Mayurbhanj Fruit and Vegetable Producers Company, through which the farmers are getting good returns, said collector (Mayurbhanj) Rajesh Pravakar Patil.
Around 400 farmers benefited from the initiative two years back. Patil said the administration aims to include 5,000 farmers in the company. In 2016, the company exported 50 metric tonne of mango to Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Private Limited.
Similarly, in view of superstition in Nabarangpur, the administration started Campaign Jyoti to sensitize people against hot iron branding and cauterization. By involving accredited social health activists (ASHAs), anganwadi and ANM workers, the administration prepared campaign materials in local dialects.
It also identified around 4,500 traditional healers since December 2015 and they were asked to sign an undertaking pledging not to continue with such practices. "There was no report of hot iron branding in Nabarangpur since the campaign was launched," said collector (Nabarangpur) Rashmita Panda.
In Khurda, the administration started an eye care awareness drive as number of specialists and technicians are very low. There were only 25 eye specialists and 32 qualified technicians in both private and government hospitals for around 25 lakh people of the district. "We have trained teachers, ASHA and anganwadi workers in eye care. They would alert people in rural areas for doctor consultation," said collector (Khurda) Niranjan Sahoo.