National seminars

National Seminar on “EMERGING TRENDS IN PROCESSING & VALUE ADDITION OF SMALL MILLETS”

Organised by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University & DHAN Foundation

Date: 22 & 23-09-2017

Venue: Thamukkam Ground, Madurai

Background

In India, declining cereal diversity in diets is one of the key factors behind malnutrition and the prevalence of non‐communicable diseases such as diabetes. Bringing back small millets in the mainstream diets could be an answer. Small millets include finger, little, proso, barnyard, foxtail and kodo millets. Performing well in marginal environments they have superior nutritional properties, including high micronutrient and dietary fibre content, and low glycemic index. However, there has been a drastic decline in production and consumption of small millets in the last few decades, mainly due to limited productivity, high drudgery involved in their processing, negative perceptions of small millets as a food for the poor and policy neglect when compared with other crops.

To address these issues pertaining to processing and value addition of small millets, many researchers, research agencies, equipment manufacturers and NGOs have been attempting to develop appropriate technologies. However, constructive sharing and interaction between different research agencies and, between research agencies, equipment manufacturers (adopters) and food enterprises (users of the technologies) were limited. So, this seminar was organised for facilitating systematic interaction between the stakeholders on the new developments on developing and improving of small millets processing and value addition technologies.

About the seminar

With these focus areas in mind, DHAN Foundation and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University have organised a two-days seminar on EMERGING TRENDS IN PROCESSING & VALUE ADDITION OF SMALL MILLETS on 22nd & 23rd September, 2017, under the aegis of Scaling up Small Millet Post-harvest and Nutritious Food Products Project supported by IDRC and GAC, Canada. The overall objective of the seminar was ‘systematic interaction among various small millet stakeholders on recent advances in processing and value addition of small millets and finding out further research needed to make available nutritious quality small millet food products to the customers.’.

This workshop was organized as part of Madurai Symposium, a biennial large-scale development event organized at Madurai, Tamil Nadu by DHAN Foundation, on the theme of Building Resilience for Sustaining Development. Promoting small millets is expected to improve the resilience of farming systems and local/regional food systems.

Participants

A wide range of participants namely, professors, scholars, researchers, industrialists, processors, food entrepreneurs, marketing expert, representatives from FPO and NGOs participated in the event. Some of the dignitaries participated in the event are given below:

  1. Dr.S. Parvathi, Dean, Home Science College & Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai.

  2. Dr. Vijaya Raghavan from McGill University, Canada

  3. Dr. Valerie Orsat from McGill University, Canada

  4. Dr. A. Sundaravalli, Ph.D, HOD, Dept. Food Science & Nutrition Mount Caramel College, Bangalore

  5. Dr. V. Palanimuthu, Head, AICRP on Post-harvest Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore

  6. Dr. Usha Dharmaraj, Senior Technical Officer, Dept. of Grain Science Technology, CSIR - Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, Karnataka

  7. Mr.Dinesha Kumar, Earth 360, medium scale processor at Kedri in Andhra Pradesh

  8. Dr.Dwijendranath Guru, Independent Technology Developer & Technical Consultant, Bangalore.

  9. Mr. Arul Murugan, Founder and CEO, Snackexperts

Process

A welcome address and an introduction of the two days seminar was given by Mr.M.Karthikeyan, Principal Investigator & Programme Leader, DHAN Foundation, Madurai and Co-convener of the seminar. The inaugural function was formally opened by lighting the lamp. This was followed by release of souvenir of the event- Book of abstracts. Dr.S. Parvathi, Dean, Home Science College & Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai, delivered the inaugural address. Immediately after completing the inaugural function, the technical session 1 was kicked off. There were five technical sessions during the seminar, and they were:

    Technical Session 1- Health and Nutritional Benefits of Small Millets

    Technical Session 2 - Machineries used in Primary and Secondary Processing

    Technical session 3 - Value added Small Millet Products

    Technical session 4 - Innovation & Promotion of Small Millets Food Products

    Technical session 5 - >Marketing Strategies for Small Millet Products

In each technical session, there was a lead paper presentation followed by some oral presentations. In addition to five technical sessions, there was a poster session in which selected posters have been displayed. During the valedictory function of the event, prizes were distributed to the best oral presentation and poster presentation. In the function, the report of consolidated five technical sessions was presented by Dr.N.Varadharaju, Convener the event, Professor & Head, Post-harvest Technology Centre, TNAU, Coimbatore. Valedictory address was given by Mr.M.P.Vasimali, Executive Director, DHAN Foundation, Madurai. Mr.M.Palanisamy, Programme Leader, DHAN Foundation, Madurai proposed the vote of thanks.

Research papers

In total, 76 abstracts were received for the seminar, which are shared in the book of abstracts. The details of papers presented in each Technical Session are shared below.

TECHNICAL SESSION I: HEALTH & NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF SMALL MILLETS

Lead Paper

Health and nutritional benefits of small millets, Dr. A. Sundaravalli, HoD, Department of Food Science & Nutrition, Mount Caramel College, Bangalore.

Oral Presentations

  • Development and evaluation of millet and greengram based roti mix, Senthamarai Selvi L. and Hemalatha.G.

  • Physical properties and nutritional content of raw and powdered millet varieties, Aruna T., Khaleetha Jainaf Fathima N. and Ilamaran M.

  • Development of multigrain traditional snack, K. Abhirami and L. Karpagapandi

  • Studies on enhancing the shelf life of de-hulled millets, M. Balakrishnan, K. G. Ishwarya and N. Varadharaju

TECHNICAL SESSION II: MACHINERY USED IN PRIMARY & SECONDARY PROCESSING OF SMALL MILLETS

Lead Paper

Performance evaluation of different dehusking machines for Kodo millet, Dr. V. Palanimuthu, Head, AICRP on Post-harvest Technology University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore – 560065.

Oral Presentations

  • Issues faced by small scale processors pertaining to processing of small millets, Mr. Peter

  • Hand operated dehuller for small millets, Dr. Valerie Orsat, McGill University

  • Experimenting with Otake huller for processing of small millets- learning & insight for improving hulling equipment for small millets, Mr. Saravanan, DHAN Foundation

  • Borne small millet dehuller- an advancement in small millet processing, Mr. Vignesh Ram, Borne

  • Improvement in small millet hulling equipment, Mr. Shanmugavel, Victor Agro Sales

  • Machinery used in primary and secondary processing of small millets, Ms. Sowmiya T. S., Perfura Technologies Ltd.

TECHNICAL SESSION III: "VALUE ADDITION OF SMALL MILLETS"

Lead Paper

Millets: present and future perspectives, Dr. Usha Dharmaraj, Senior Technical Officer, Dept. of Grain Science Technology, CSIR - Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, Karnataka

Oral Presentations

  • Development of nutrient enriched biscuits by incorporating selected millets, Pandidurai G. and Vennila P.

  • Nutraceutical drink for nutritional security, Anithasri. M. J and G. Sashidevi

  • Doubling small millet farmers income through value addition- an online market study in Coimbatore city, V. Kavitha and G. Sindumathi

  • Development and nutritional qualities of barnyard millet based vermicelli incorporated with Ekanayakam root barks, Chandraprabha S. and Sharon C. L.

  • Nutritional properties of composite flours prepared using millets, pulses and plantain, R. Saraswathi and R. Sahul Hameed

TECHNICAL SESSION IV: "INNOVATION & PROMOTION OF SMALL MILLETS FOOD PRODUCTS & BUSINESS"

Oral Presentations

  • Assessment of the suitability of millets for bakery products, Jothilakshmi. K., Premalatha M. R., Padmini T., S. P. Sundaram and Duraisamy M.R.

  • Promotion of small millets, Dr. Vijaya Raghavan, McGill University.

  • Development of functional probiotic ragi porridge, Ms.Vidhya.G., Dr.Umamageswari.T and Dr. Sashidevi. G

  • Experience sharing- Mr. Ramesh, Amutham Foods, Chennai.

TECHNICAL SESSION V: "MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL MILLET PRODUCTS"

Lead Paper

Millets value chain challenges for micro and small entrepreneurs, community level small millets processing and value addition, M N Dinesha Kumar, Director, EARTH 360 Eco Ventures, Kadiri, AP.

Oral Presentations

Abstracts of oral and poster presentations