Bringing drudgery reduction and income generation in one shot, two Dal Mills (processing centres for pulses) were inaugurated in Ganjam district, Odisha. Supported by the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production, Govt of Odisha,the mills were handed over to Bahuda Farmers Producer Company Ltd. Badabaranga and Om Namo Bhagavate SHG, Parasamba, Chikiti, Ganjam. The centres were inaugurated by Dr R V Bhavani, Director, Agriculture, Nutrition Health program & Odisha Regional Centre, MSSRF. Shri Santosh Behera, Scheme Officer Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana & NFSM, Engineer Shri Sudhanshu Sekhar Nayak, NFSM, and Shri Prashant K Parida, Coordinator, Biju Patnaik Tribal Agrobiodiversity Centre (BPTAbC), Jeypore in January 2021.

After the inauguration in Parasamba village, a capacity building training programme on how to run the mill was conducted by Engineer S S Nayak. He also explained that if the mill runs effectively, the group members will get a good income and will help reduce women’s drudgery as they shift from manual to mechanical grinding.

Shri Santosh Behera, Scheme Officer Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana & NFSM, Bhubaneswar stated that this is a pilot programme of NFSM. If this will be successful, more such SHGs / FPOs will be added in future.

This programme was coordinated by Dr. Kartik Charan Lenka and Shri Krutibas Rauta of MSSRF’s Jeypore centre.