When Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced, in his 2011 Budget speech, a special provision of Rs 300 crore to promote the production and consumption of nutri-cereals (nutritious millet), he essentially sought to extend the scope of what was already being done under the flagship farm research programme, the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP).
Coarse cereals like sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi) and others are healthy foods that are going out of production due to a steady decline in consumption and need to be rehabilitated. Recent studies by the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, have borne out the health advantages of millet, especially for people suffering from diabetes and obesity.
But a false impression has somehow developed that coarse grains are food for the poor. This, coupled with the availability of fine cereals like rice and wheat at relatively cheaper prices thanks to government subsidies, has contributed to driving millet out of the food basket.
It was, indeed, to restore the due place of millet in Indian diets that NAIP has launched a project to develop and popularise technology for value-added and easy-to-consume products of sorghum with the ultimate objective of encouraging farmers to grow this millet. NAIP is a World Bank-assisted research and development (R&D) programme that aims, among other objectives, to encourage scientific work on the complete chain of production systems from farm to fork. It lays emphasis on developing value-added stuff for direct consumption or for other end uses.
Titled “Creation of demand for millet foods through the production-to-consumption value chain”, the project is being implemented by a consortium of several research institutions led by Hyderabad-based National Research Centre on Sorghum and the Directorate of Sorghum Research (DSR).
Of the various possible semi-processed jowar-based foods, five have been identified for developing the technology for their commercial production and promoting their consumption. Selected on the basis of market surveys, these items include sorghum flakes, pasta, vermicelli, rava and multigrain atta. Well-conceived strategies have been evolved to popularise these wholesome products through displays in malls and organised food chains, and road shows through mobile vans to target different market segments.
A notable feature of the ongoing project is that it does not end at the development of technology and creating a niche market for the product but also prepares business models for prospective investors. A demonstration unit to show the process of making jowar flakes has been set up at Borisawant village in Parbhani district. It has a capacity to churn out 100 kg of flakes a day at an estimated cost of Rs 22 per kg. The production cost can be lowered to Rs 17 a kg by increasing the capacity of the unit to 200 kg or more.
This technology is said to be simple enough to be taken up by small entrepreneurs, self-help groups or farmers’ cooperatives, besides food processing companies. Entrepreneurship development programmes have been conducted on production, processing and value-addition for the benefit of potential entrepreneurs in rural as well as urban areas of Parbhani, Adilabad and Nanded districts. Some farmers’ groups, apart from a few industrial houses, have already come forward to start commercial production of value-enriched sorghum products. DSR has registered a brand name “Eatrite” for such products, some of which are already being sold through the outlets of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) in New Delhi and those of “Heritage Fresh” retail chain in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.
Now that the Union government has provided budgetary support for the promotion of millet on a wider scale, these crops are expected to get much-needed impetus for their growth. The scheme mooted in the Budget seeks to provide the market-linked product support to one million millet growers in arid and semi-arid regions. The programme will be taken up in around 1,000 compact blocks covering nearly 25,000 villages. While grain millet will be used to boost the nutritional status of food, the rest of the crop biomass will be available as nourishing fodder for livestock.
Indeed, the sorghum project is among numerous other similar production-to-consumption system development projects of the NAIP. Many of those also merit to be supported in a similar way for the benefit of farmers and consumers alike.