Swiss technology firm Bühler India and the Department of Science and Technology-supported tech business incubator Nutrihub at the Indian Institute of Millet Research (ICAR-IIMR), Hyderabad, will be collaborating to advance millet processing technologies and enhance industrial application of millets in India.
The firm in collaboration with Nutrihub-IIMR is committed to tackle the challenges in millet processing, focusing on extending shelf life, enhancing flour properties and increasing processing yields, Bühler India said in a release on Tuesday. The collaboration comes in the backdrop of only about 2 million tonnes of the 19-20 MT of millet produced by India processed on an industrial scale. A key component of the collaboration will be researching the most effective grinding methods to achieve superior product quality at Bühler’s Application Center and Analytical Laboratory.
The collaboration brings together the firm’s expertise in processing technologies with the Institute’s in-depth knowledge of millets, Bühler India Head of Corporate Technology Shashidhar Subramanya said. IIMR is into strategic research to increase productivity of millets and their diversified utilisation at a national level.
The collaboration focuses on researching the effects of different milling technologies on major millets and specifying milled millet fraction requirements for various end-user product applications. By improving the efficiency, quality and versatility of millet-based products, the research opens new markets and applications for millets’ processing and value addition worldwide, Nutrihub CEO B. Dayakar Rao said.