Allola Indrakaran Reddy, Minister for Endowment, Law, Forest and Environment, Telangana, inaugurated a tribal women-run food processing unit in Utnoor in Adilabad district on Monday (November 2,). The Komaram Bheem Peanut Chikki Industries that the minister opened is wholly owned by first-generation tribal entrepreneurs. The unit will supply to government nutrition programs and anganwadis in the tribal region.
The food processing unit is part of a collaboration between the Tribal Cooperative Finance Corporation (TRICOR), Tribal Welfare Department of Telangana, Government of India’s Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The collaboration aims to localise production and address malnutrition, besides improving economic conditions of tribal communities.
“I am delighted to inaugurate the Komaram Bheem Peanut Chikki Industries in Utnoor today. This unit is a testament to the Telangana government’s commitment to the development and welfare of tribal populations in the state. The unit is owned and run by women is another reason for celebration,” the minister said.
The food processing unit is designed and equipped with machinery as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines. It will ensure the production of nutritious food products meeting national and international market standards. ICRISAT has trained 80 tribal women farmers from Utnoor, Eturnagaram, and Bhadrachalam in Telangana to manage food processing units that are being set up in these blocks.
The project trains tribal women to be “Nutrition Entrepreneurs” and is critical to ensure the evolution of local value chains around local food production and consumption to make vulnerable tribal communities sustainable, especially post COVID-19. Going forward, this initiative will empower tribal communities by establishing more units and build their capacity to run the units in a sustainable manner, contributing towards not only health and nutrition, but sustainable livelihoods as well.
source: https://ruralmarketing.in/industry/agriculture/making-a-difference-through-tribal-women-owned-food-processing-unit