Bhubaneswar: The second phase of the training titled “Capacity Building Training on Data Interpretation and Economic Impact Analysis” was organized jointly by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Government of Odisha and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
According to an official press release, the two-day training programme held in Bhubaneswar aimed to engage departmental officers and stakeholders in agricultural policy formulation and sector-level planning.
The programme was inaugurated by the Additional Secretary of the Department, Subhransu Mishra and said that the use of data for planning and evaluation has already started yielding tangible results in the agriculture sector of Odisha, and such training is very important to sustain this momentum. Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sangram Keshari Patnaik and Assistant Director of Agriculture, Nagan Kumar Mallick also participated in the training and said that strengthening internal data capacity is very important to promote innovation, accountability and responsiveness in service delivery to farmers.
The training was attended by around 50 participants, including representatives from leading organizations like PRADAN, Samagra, ACCESS Development Services, Centre for Sustainable Markets (CSM), WASSAN, Niruthi and the Indian School of Business (ISB).
The second phase of training provided on concepts in data analysis, visualization and agricultural policy evaluation using datasets like NSSO, Census of Agriculture, and PLFS and tools like Excel, STATA, R, and Python, and its practical applications.
The training, led by experts from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) advised that, it was not just about conceptual clarity but also encouraged the officials to apply what they have learned in their own fields. Certificates were distributed at the end of the session and continuous efforts were encouraged to lead the economy by leading the agriculture sector.
