India, Aug. 3 -- Built with the promise of transforming agriculture and creating rural livelihoods, a modern food processing centre in Odisha's Nabarangpur district now stands abandoned. Established around one and a half years ago at the local RMC office with technical support from the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Hyderabad, the unit was envisioned as a game changer for farmers and women entrepreneurs.

Its objective was to process locally grown turmeric, maize, ragi, millet, mustard and other agricultural produce, increase farmers' income and create sustainable employment through value addition.

Today, that vision has faded. Production has completely stopped, expensive machinery lies covered in dust, and the ...