The meticulous process of cleaning millet, in vain?
The market for millet, the building block to many of our everyday foods such as roti and khichdi, has been a fluctuating one, and there is a push to make it grow from $9 billion to $12 billion by 2025. But who does the market really cater to?
“Millets are for certain occasions and certain people only”.
The market for millet has been fluctuating, resulting in higher prices that have determined millet accessible to certain privileged people only, rather than a staple food for all—especially those who grow it
And yet the ones who make it don’t have it easy- large scale millet processing units cannot match the manual methods of winnowing, which is very time consuming.
While processing millet, one is required to not only remove impurities, but also to filter them based on size, shape, and colour. There are about 4-5 types of machines needed to perform these functions, and even then they cannot match the manual processing.
Problem Statement:
How might we support the millet producers to make the cleaning process easier, as well as go back to making it a staple for them and not just for the privileged?