Who grows vegetables? Smallholder commercialization in Odisha, India

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR single centre
cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country institute
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Food Policy Research Institute
cg.contributor.affiliationAcademy of Management Studies
cg.contributor.donorGates Foundation
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Fund
cg.contributor.programAcceleratorPolicy Innovations
cg.coverage.countryIndia
cg.coverage.regionAsia
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Asia
cg.coverage.subregionOdisha
cg.creator.identifierSudha Narayanan: 0000-0003-1048-2341
cg.creator.identifierBen Belton: 0000-0002-6474-6472
cg.howPublishedGrey Literature
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Development Strategies and Governance Unit
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Tracking commercial small-scale producers for inclusive agricultural transformation (INCATA)
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot ranked
cg.number3
cg.placeWashington, DC
cg.reviewStatusInternal Review
cg.subject.impactAreaNutrition, health and food security
cg.subject.impactAreaPoverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs
dc.contributor.authorNarayanan, Sudha
dc.contributor.authorBelton, Ben
dc.contributor.authorNayak, P. C.
dc.contributor.authorPandey, Rakshit
dc.contributor.authorDash, Debasish
dc.date.accessioned2026-02-19T20:28:06Z
dc.date.available2026-02-19T20:28:06Z
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/181756
dc.titleWho grows vegetables? Smallholder commercialization in Odisha, Indiaen
dcterms.abstractWe analyze data from a house listing exercise, conducted as part of the INCATA project, covering 35,913 households across 154 villages in 24 blocks in six districts in Odisha, to assess the extent, patterns, and growth of vegetable farming. We successfully listed 27,189 of the 35,913 households; 69% of those we successfully listed reported being engaged in cultivation in the past year. Of these, 95% grew paddy, the most important staple grain in the state, while only 22% grew vegetables (this is equal to 15% of all those listed). A larger share of listed households (34%), however, had a kitchen garden; 24% of listed households had both a vegetable farm and a kitchen garden. Only 14% of those with kitchen garden also sell from the kitchen garden. Although only 15% of all those listed grew vegetables themselves, thrice as many had worked on others' vegetables vegetable fields, highlighting the wider implications of vegetable cultivation for employment. Vegetable cultivation has a non-linear relationship with landholding size, with those owning around 2-5 acres (small farmers) or 10-12 acres (medium farmers) having a higher proportion of vegetable cultivators than others. This suggests that vegetable cultivation is both inclusive while also permitting larger - scale commercialization. Land leasing is widespread. Over 85% of those who began growing vegetables after 1950 started selling vegetables that same year, underlining the commercial orientation from the start. At the same time, growing for own consumption is an important driver for vegetable farming. The recent spurt in the numbers of vegetable farmers has been disproportionately in high “intensity” blocks, i.e. where there are more vegetable farmers, implying a clustering effect. Regionally, the recent growth is relatively greater in the coastal districts (Ganjam, Cuttack) and in what we refer to as the central spine (Anugul, Keonjhar and Koraput). Irrigation appears to be by far the most important correlate of vegetable cultivation. Contrary to popular perception that marketing constraints deter diversification into vegetables, water and land constraints prevent uptake; further, the most frequent reasons for those who give up vegetable production are water constraints and animal conflict. Further analysis will investigate in detail the enablers of and barriers to commercial vegetable cultivation.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.audienceAcademics
dcterms.bibliographicCitationNarayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Nayak, P. C.; Pandey, Rakshit; and Dash, Debasish. 2026. Who grows vegetables? Smallholder commercialization in Odisha, India. INCATA Project Note 3. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181756
dcterms.extent11 p.
dcterms.isPartOfINCATA Project Note
dcterms.issued2026-02-19
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherInternational Food Policy Research Institute
dcterms.subjectvegetables
dcterms.subjectsmallholders
dcterms.subjectcommercialization
dcterms.subjectfarming systems
dcterms.typeBrief

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