Scaling up Small Millets Post-harvest & Nutritious Food Products Project

A two day Project Dissemination Workshop was organized on 15-16 February 2018 at The Gateway Hotel, Pasumalai, Madurai by DHAN Foundation with the funding support of IDRC and GAC, Canada. The main objectives of the workshop were:

• To disseminate the learning on scaling up of small millet processing equipment and food products
• To strengthen the existing partnership and establishing new partnership and
• To explore the next steps for further scaling up.

Small millet value chain actors such as farmers, processing equipment manufacturers, food entrepreneurs, government officials, NGO representatives and research organizations from across the country participated in the workshop. In total, 73 participants turned out in the workshop.

Brief report on the Project Dissemination Workshop

Programme schedule

List of participants

Session wise presentations made by the lead speakers:

1. Scaling up appropriate processing equipment

1.1. Technology development

• The need for technology improvement pertaining to small millet processing- Dr. Malleshi, Former Director Grade Scientist and Head, Department of Grain Science & Technology, CFTRI, Mysore
• Development of small millet processing technology by TNAU - Dr. Varadharaju, Professor & Head, PHTC, TNAU
• Technology improvements in small millet processing by DHAN Foundation -Mr. Saravanan, Team Leader, DHAN Foundation
• Development of a hand operated dehuller- Dr. Valerie Orsat, Professor & Head, Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, Canada

1.2 Scaling up the reach of processing equipment

• Scaling up the reach of processing equipment – Concept, Efforts, Results and Learning-Mr. P.Saravanan, Team Leader, DHAN Foundation

2. Scaling up appealing small millet food products

2.1. Technology development

• Research on product development and health benefits of small millet foods by TNAU- Dr. Malathi, Former Professor, TNAU
• Health aspects and functionality of millets & utilisation of millet hulls in antioxidant extraction-Dr. Valerie Orsat, McGill University, Canada

2.2. Scaling up the reach of appealing small millet food products

• Scaling up the reach of appealing small millet food products in Tamil Nadu region- Mr. Vediyappan, Senior Project Executive, DHAN
• Supporting food enterprises for scaling up small millet nutritious food products by TNAU-Dr. Malathi, Former Professor, TNAU
• Scaling up appealing small millet food products outside Tamil Nadu-Mr.Bijaya Kumar Naik, Senior Project Executive, DHAN Foundation
• NIRMAN’s experience of promotion of millets in Odisha- Mr. Prasant Mohanty, Executive Director
• Special program for promotion of millets in tribal areas of Odisha: Taking millets to millions- Mr. Dinesh Balam, Project Secretariat, WASSAN
• Promoting small millet cultivation and consumption in Uttarakhand- Mr. G.C. Pant, Coordintator, INHERE
• Supporting Millet Porridge Vendors (MPV), a pro-poor millet food marketing channel- Mr. K. Manikandan, Project Executive, DHAN Foundation

2.3. Supply chain interventions

• Making available quality small millet bulk products at affordable price: The experience of Kalanjiam Thozhilagam Limited (KTL)– Mr. T. Dhanabalan, CEO, KTL
• Market- Business models for scaling up- Dr. Vijaya Raghavan, PI, McGill University, Canada

3. Promoting household consumption

• Scaling up the reach of appealing small millet food products: Capacity building of end users- Mr. M. Karthikeyan, PI & Program Leader, DHAN Foundation
• Small millet promotion by member based organization: The experience of Salem Women Federation Collective- Mrs. B. Sivarani, Regional Coordinator, DHAN Foundation

4. Local & regional value chain development for small millets

• Local & regional value chain development for small millets: Some observations and reflections- Mr. M. Karthikeyan, PI & Program Leader, DHAN Foundation