IRRI’s technical assistance to the project includes the introduction of climate-smart technologies such as MTR.

World Bank Regional Integration and Engagement in the South Asia Region (SAR) Director Cecile Fruman visited Assam to get a firsthand understanding and appreciation of IRRI’s work on the World Bank-funded Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART).

APART aims to add value and improve the resilience of selected agriculture value chains and is focused on smallholder farmers and agri-entrepreneurs from targeted districts in the state. IRRI’s technical assistance to the project includes the introduction of climate-smart technologies such as MTR.

Fruman was pleased to see the community coming together to form a Farmer Producer Company (FPC) and benefiting from the project through stronger market linkages and the introduction of new stress-tolerant rice varieties and farm-based mechanisation technologies. She met and visited the field of Usha Nath, an exemplary farmer beneficiary under IRRI-APART. Nath contributes extensively to the family income by running her own vermicompost unit and establishing different livestock enterprises. She has adopted a fully mechanised way of farming in her field and advocates for others in her community to follow suit. Nath demonstrated the operation of a mechanical transplanter in her field and shared its benefits with Fruman and the rest of the team.

Fruman stressed the importance of community-driven development and the involvement of women farmers as key drivers of true progress.