Mahanadi Delta region have experienced an increase in flood disaster risk over the last four decades, with a consequential increase in economic losses. Recently, in the years 2003, 2008, 2011 and in 2014 the delta experienced major floods due to heavy rainfall causing extensive damage. Flat coastal terrain with poor drainage condition, high amount of siltation, encroachment of the rivers, breaching of the embankments and spilling of monsoonal runoff are the major causes of severe floods.  Added to this, the 200 km long coastline of the delta is susceptible to massive erosion, more dominant across the lower reach of the delta.

These varied hazards have compelled inhabitants to migrate out of the Mahanadi Delta in search of better livelihood and socio-economic growth. Besides this, lack of effective adaptation policy in terms of livelihood diversification have aggravated the situation as it fails to maintain a check in the migration rate, and adversely impact the agrarian economy of the state.  A drastic decline in the production growth rate of major crops has contributed to acute food insecurity in the state, resulting in increasing cases of malnutrition, child trafficking, and starvation-related deaths.

To tackle with the perpetual crisis, Caritas India with support from Caritas Germany has devised strategies to enhance the adaptation mechanisms of the community to disaster risk reduction and food security under the project titled “Building Community’s Resilience in the Mahanadi Delta Region of India”. The project is on its second phase of implementation with disaster preparedness and mitigation along with policy level intervention being the key focal areas of intervention.

To channelize the project goal of attaining greater resilience of the community in the region, a project planning, and orientation exercise was conducted with the partners in Balasore, with thematic support from Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Adaptive Agriculture and Sustainable Livelihood departments. The two days program was largely a participatory process, striving commitment towards continual learning and improvement in the intervention strategies and focused on problem-solving and improved decision-making practices.

Input session on resilient livelihood promotion was facilitated by Dr. Pallab, identifying key strategies in the local context to achieve increased productivity and income through climate-smart agriculture practices. Focus on training and handholding partners on agronomic practices, integrating models on Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and creating models on such practices. Some models suggested by Dr. Pallab involves promoting Pheromen Trap which can be initiated with 20 farmers followed by enhancing the knowledge of farmers on safe food and nutrition, promoting rhizobium culture, popularising the importance of natural agents (birds, lizards, frogs)which can control pests, promote natural farming practices by introducing beejamrit (organic seed treatment), jeevamrit (organic manure to enhance yield)and through compost pits and promoting drought tolerant varities. The need to focus on the availability of water was also stressed upon, given the current water crisis looming all over the country. The two days exercise gave the partners ample scope for sharing the community perspective on areas critical to climate change, natural resource management and disaster risk reduction along with their contribution towards an effective and efficient partnership model with Caritas India.

The project will be implemented across the three districts of Mahanadi Delta namely Cuttack, Bhadrak and Sonepur covering 4300 vulnerable households, strengthening community led institutions to leverage resources from government stakeholders and influence policy decisions towards disaster risk reduction.