BENGALURU: This innovative equipment is a success of a private public partnership project between ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research and Venture Tech India Pvt Ltd. The ‘Sorghum Harvester’ is unique and it will work as a combined harvester, explains Vilas A Tonapi, Director of the Institute. “It can cut panicles (cluster) as well as stems of the Sorghum crop. The acute shortage of labour or the huge costs incurred on daily wages can be done away with using this product. It will definitely go a long way in boosting the profits of farmers,” he says.
The model on display is a smaller version and costs around `45,000, Tonapi says. Another innovative product here is the ‘Two Stage Dehuller’, which was generating a lot of queries from farmers. “It is targeted at growers of smaller millets like Fox Tail, Kodo, Little Millet, Proso Millet and Barnyard Millet,” explains Thomas Nicodemus, Managing Director of Venture Tech India Pvt Ltd.