Event 9

Demonstration of Improved Huller for Small Millet Processing at Agribusiness Department of District Administration Office in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu

DHAN Foundation has organized a two days demonstration programme for processing small millets at District Administration Office in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu on 22nd and 23rd November 2017, with the support of Deputy Director of Agribusiness of Virudhunagar District. The salient design features of ‘Otake Centrifugal Huller’ for processing small millets namely, less weight, low noise, high energy efficiency, easily moveable, compact and has a low hopper that made it easier to operate and its operational efficiency in bringing out quality output of small millets was demonstrated. In the demonstration and display, around 1000 farmers, office bearers from 12 FPOs and 120 Government officials of different departments hailing from Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram and Tirunelveli districts participated. Of these 12 FPOs, eight were focusing on millet production and processing. This demonstration was quite useful to understand the various aspects of processing machines for small millets. As a result of the demonstration, FPOs have shown keen interest to purchase such processing machines for initiating small millet processing unit as one of their business activities, with the support of Tamil Nadu Government.