A group of trained tribal women of a Bhadrachalam-based Joint Liability Group (JLG) christened Sri Lakshmi Ganesha is all set to start a processing unit for millet-based nutritious food products in pursuit of economic empowerment.
The enterprising move is expected to chart a new course of financial self-reliance for the members of the group and also supplement the nutrition interventions to address malnutrition prevalent in tribal areas. The members of the group including tribal women farmers had already undergone training at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, in making nutritious ready-to-eat/cook products, sources said.
Thanks to the collaborative initiative by the Tribal Cooperative Finance Corporation Ltd (TRICOR) and the Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) of ICRISAT, the group acquired the requisite skills to successfully run a micro enterprise to achieve financial self-reliance. It forms part of the joint initiative to promote the JLGs to set up micro, small and medium enterprises in areas such as soap/shampoo making, dal and sorghum processing in tribal areas under the jurisdiction of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Bhadrachalam, and other Agency areas elsewhere in the State by way of funding, providing them training and capacity building, establishing market linkages through the TSGCC, sources in the ITDA said.
The trial run of the proposed processing unit for jowar meal and multigrain meal in Bhadrachalam was conducted recently, said Sujatha, Assistant Project Officer (Agriculture), ITDA, Bhadrachalam.
The mandatory processes for operationalisation of the unit are under way, she said, adding that all the members of the tribal women-led JLG named ‘Sri Lakshmi Ganesha’ were trained in production of millet and pulses based ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook nutritious products and the business management skills at the Hyderabad-based ICRISAT.
