ADILABAD: The three millets, looked down upon as the poor man’s diet once, are now the most sought after food by all strata of society. The millets, whose multifarious health benefits have been rediscovered in the recent past, are now becoming the staple diet for many suffering from various illnesses. Those who want to be fit and those who are fit but want to be fitter are now using the millets in their diets.
So is the Kumrambheem-Asifabad district administration which, through ITDA, has made millets part of the daily diets for pregnant women, infants and adolescent girls who are covered by Anganwadi centres.
The district administration has a small scale millets powder unit set up by a tribal self-help group which makes different kinds of powders at Kautaguda near district headquarters which include sorghum, millets, sajja, peanuts, kernels, pesara, cumin, turmeric, chilli, mustard, coriander, sugar, almonds and rava.
A member of SHG K Kavitha said, “This project is helping us get employment and at the same time making us feel happy that we are serving a cause.”
The self-help groups use them to cook sorghum meals, and multigrain mineral sweet meals at Anganwadi centres for supply to the children, adolescent girls and pregnant women. Ten women members of the aboriginal tribes have been trained to run the unit each of whom has a specific task cut for them to run the unit efficiently.
The self-help groups are hopeful that they would get an opportunity to double their income by supplying millet-based products to public schools and hostels. The officials have found that millet-based products are showing good results in reducing anaemia due to malnutrition among those covered by the Anganwadis.
The district has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Excellence Award for coming up with the innovative idea and for implementing it which was now improving the health of the women and children under Anganwadi centres. The award was recently received by District Collector Rahul Raj from the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Food panel chairman reviews procurement
The Telangana Food Commission Chairman Thirumala Reddy lauded the manner in which grains are being procured through women’s associations, primary co-operative societies and market committees in the State. On Saturday, the commission chairman along with other members inspected the various purchasing centres and rice mills at Medak district.