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Hon'ble CM of Odisha Sri Naveen Patnaik launches Forestry Sector Development Project Banayana 27th April, 2017

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today launched the Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project (OFSDP) Banayana.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Mr.Patnaik said the JICA assisted project is the first third generaton forestry sector project in India. “It envisages sustainable management of forest and bio-diversity along with adoption of best available technology and practices”, he added.

The Chief Minister said the most important aspect of the project will be active community engagement to transform them from resource users to resource managers.

Mr.Patnaik said the JICA assisted Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project was first implemented in Odisha in 2006 with active community participation in 2,426 villages.

“With the lessons learnt from the successful implementation of OFSDP, the State Government launched a flagship programme Ama Jungle Yojana to keep the momentum”, he stated, adding it is being successfully implemented in 24 forest divisions with a target to cover 7,000 Vana Surakhya Samitis.

Chief Minister said the new project Banayana would be implemented in 14 forest and wildlife divisions of the State covering 10 districts with the active participation of 1,200 Vana Surakhya Samitis with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore for a period of 10 years.

He added that eco-system based management will be introduced in Bhitarkanika under the plan.

Mr.Patnaik said Satoyama initiative would be piloted in Badrama wildlife sanctuary under Bamra wildlife division.

He said project would bring in a paradigm shift in forest management by acknowledging the crucial role of women in sustainable management of forest.

He added that as many as 3,600 self help groups would be supported under the project to facilitate them to pursue viable income generation activities.

“Women would be empowered by their inclusion in the planning and decision making process”, Mr.Patnaik stated.

Takema Sakamoto, Chief Representative, JICA India Office in his address said, “OFSDP-1 was successfully implemented and is a perfect example of replicability and promotion of sustainability. After the success of OFSDP-1, the State Government replicated a similar program and introduced it as “AMA Jangala Yojana”.

With the launch of OFSDP-2, our further involvement in providing assistance to enhance forest ecosystem along with sustainable livelihood of local people will deepen in the state of Odisha.

The Japanese concept of socio-ecological production landscape “Satoyama” would also be piloted in some protected areas of Odisha among other several new initiatives.

The major role of JICAs assistance is to improve sustainable forest management, sustainable biodiversity conservation and community development, which will ultimately raise the economic growth to sufficient levels to meet the needs of the local people and will make improvements in the standards of living.

JICA had signed the Loan Agreement of 14,512 million Japanese Yen (approximately INR 850 crores) for OFSDP-2 with the Government of India on March, 31 2017.

 JICAs Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan conditions are very concessional, ie 0.3 pc interest rate for project activities and 0.01 pc for consulting services and 40 years of repayment period (including 10 years of grace period).

The loan agreement of OFSDP-1 was signed in 2006 of 13,937 million Japanese Yen (approximately Rs 800 crore) and successfully completed in 2016.

The project is being implemented by the State Forest and Environment Department.

In Odisha, till date, JICA has assisted 13 loan projects in the field of Water and Sanitation, Agriculture, Power and so on. Together they have amounted to 160 billion Japanese Yen (approximately Rs 9,200 crore)