Bhubaneswar: The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Government of Odisha, in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and support from the Gates Foundation, organized the Inception Workshop on Institutionalizing the Gender Responsive Cell: Framework and Roadmap, in Bhubaneswar today.
It is worth noting that the Gender Responsive Cell was jointly inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister, Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida on 29 November 2025 at Krushi Bhavan, underscoring the State’s commitment to advancing women-led development and inclusive agricultural systems. The GRC aims to analyses the existing gender gaps by institutionalizing gender-responsive governance within the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, ensuring that gender equity becomes a core operational principle rather than an add-on.
Addressing the gathering, Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, Deputy Chief Minister of Odisha and Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment and Energy, called for sustained institutional action. When we launched the Cell last year, it signaled Odisha’s commitment to inclusive and evidence-led agricultural reform. We are proud to share that, Odisha is the only state who had developed a SOP to manufacture women friendly farm machinery. Today’s workshop marks the next step of operationalizing this commitment and ensuring that research insights translate into tangible improvements in schemes and services.
Dr Mrinalini Darswal, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Women & Child Development Department, emphasized this need for interdepartmental convergence. Women’s empowerment cannot be addressed in silos. The Gender Responsive Cell creates space for convergence across agriculture, women and child development, and data systems, which is essential for translating women-led development into measurable outcomes.
Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, described the GRC as a governance reform. This inception workshop marks the beginning of collective action. Today’s discussions will help translate the GRC vision into a practical and achievable roadmap. GRC represents a shift toward accountable and evidence-driven agricultural governance.
Highlighting the role of research and academia Prof. Pravat Kumar Roul, Vice Chancellor, Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology (OUAT), said Gender-responsive agricultural transformation must be grounded in rigorous evidence and continuous learning. Institutions like the GRC can serve as vital bridges between research, policy, and practice.
Dr. Shahidur Rashid, Director – South Asia, IFPRI, said the initiative reflects a shift in how gender is addressed within public systems. Our role as IFPRI is to support the state with evidence, measurement frameworks, and capacity enhancement so that gender equity is reflected not only in intent, but in outcomes. Through close collaboration with state partners, the initiative will also enable the sharing of data-driven insights, diffusion of learnings to other states and across the South Asia region.
Two farm women have been felicitated in the workshop. Dr Raimati Ghiuria, known as “Millet Rani” for her contribution towards empowering women, preserving, conserving and cultivating traditional Millet & crop landraces and Rina Behera, who has excelled in farm machinery operation, maintains, repairing and teaching.
The workshop included technical sessions on gender-responsive agricultural transformation, evidence from IFPRI-led research initiatives such as the Gender, Climate Change and Nutrition Integration Initiative (GCAN), and experience-sharing by women leaders from Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). Discussions focused on structural transformation in agriculture, climate resilience, women-centric agricultural mechanization and custom hiring models, women’s leadership, and the need for robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
The workshop was attended by Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, ACS, Revenue & Disaster Management, T Nanda Kumar, former Secretary, Govt. of India, senior officers of the department, eminent scientists from national & international institutes, students, research scholars, NGO personnel, and other officers.
