A proposal on sustainable improvement of rural livelihoods through vegetable cultivation and value addition was approved by the Ministry of Panchayat Raj and Drinking Water Department, Government of Odisha, India on 20 September 2019. The World Vegetable Center will work with the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) to introduce vegetable seed hubs and protected cultivation methods, improve nursery production practices, adopt postharvest practices to reduce losses and increase value addition, and strengthen value chains for tomato, chili, onion and eggplant. WorldVeg Plant Physiologist Dr. Bindumadhava HanumanthaRao will be the project’s principal investigator.  More than 65% of Odisha’s population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. Small-scale farmers make up 90% of the state’s farming community, with average landholdings of 1.15 hectares.