The Hampapuram-based Anantha Aadarana Millets Farmer Producer Organisation(FPO) is one of the six organisations selected by the Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) and The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to represent the country at the Dubai Expo from February 17 to 19.
The only representatives from the State, M. Ramakrishna and Y. Gangireddy, from the Anantapur-based FPO left for Dubai on Tuesday.
Mr. Ramakrishna said that their FPO supported 500 member-farmers to improve the quality of production, value addition, and is looking forward to tying up with larger firms for marketing.
“Anantapur district has all the nine millets that are called ‘chiru dhanyalu’, traditionally cultivated in the Rayalaseema region, and they are organic,” he said.
Though the quality of millets grown here was unparalleled, farmers were unaware of value-addition techniques and get meager prices for their produce, he added.
At the Dubai Expo, they will present the methodology followed by the farmers in growing the millets organically, post-harvest processing and the opportunities for marketing and value-addition. “While the raw millets attract only ₹30 to ₹50 a kilo, first-level value-addition or processing will help farmers get at least ₹100 a kilo, at a time when in urban pockets the organic millets are sold at₹300 a kilo,” he said.
The IIMR has put up a millets pavilion at the expo, under way in Dubai, which will be inaugurated by the Union Agriculture Minister with a scope for each participating group to have a small cubicle.
