Manila: Sharecroppers, women and other marginal farmers in Orissa will get $2 million under an Asian Development Bank project, aimed at increasing the income of extremely poor in the state by 20%.

The project will be carried out in several parts of Orissa, where over 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, most of them in rural areas.

The ADB has approved a grant of $2 million from the Japan Fund for poverty reduction for the capacity building and livelihood enhancement of poor water users.

The project will fund capacity building and skills programmes, that support the development of new sustainable livelihood and income opportunities in areas like agro-processing, animal husbandry, fish farming and high value crop production.

It will also conduct training and awareness activities for water user groups as lack of land and resources and little access to irrigation have left many rural dwellers in Orissa eking out a subsistence living from agriculture, ADB said in a statement.

The target is to increase the incomes of the extremely poor in project areas by 20% and increase the membership of women in user group by 30% by the third year of activity, NAM news network said.

”This pilot intervention, which focuses on capacity building and livelihood improvement will help increase on- and off-farm income as well as the equal participation of vulnerable groups in the formation and management of water user associations,“ Susanne Nebel, Rural Development Specialist in ADB’s South Asia department, said.

The project complements the ADB-financed, Orissa Integrated Irrigated Agriculture and Water Management Investment Project, which is renovating and extending irrigation and associated infrastructure, in four major river basins in the state as part of broader national government efforts to bridge the country’s growing urban rural divide.