Govt wants to make agriculture more profitable, says Kakani Govardhan Reddy

Anantapur: To give a big boost to efforts to enhance livelihoods of farmer producers, Walmart Foundation and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (Icrisat), launched a Secondary Processing Unit (SPU) at Muddalapuram village in the district on Wednesday. The facility was inaugurated in virtual mode by the Minister for Agriculture & Cooperation, Marketing, Food Processing Kakani Govardhan Reddy. Addressing a virtual meet from Nellore, Agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy stated the state government has introduced several initiatives like community-managed sustainable farming to make agriculture more viable and profitable.

He said this unit will support farmers from the district with new livelihood and market access opportunities through value-added groundnut, millet and other nutritious products. He said, "Our government has prioritised making agriculture more viable and profitable for farming communities and has introduced key initiatives such as the development of community-managed sustainable farming initiatives. This women-led food processing unit will boost sustainable farming and market access for local agricultural communities, provide employment to women and youth and create new opportunities for community-managed industry through the development of more food processing units. We congratulate Walmart Foundation, Flipkart, ICRISAT and AFEC on this initiative, and look forward to more such collaborations in the future." District Collector Nagalakshmi said that the entire infrastructure of the unit will ensure improved livelihoods and better opportunities for smallholder farmers. She congratulated Walmart Foundation, ICRISAT, AFEC and Flipkart on the launch of this SPU in the district that will bring synergy between agriculture and food processing industry.

Walmart Foundation vice-president Julie Geherki said that Walmart was constantly looking for ways to empower our communities. Walmart Foundation's grant to ICRISAT aims to better support farmers' incomes while strengthening and diversifying the services of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to deliver benefits to their members. It aligns well with our efforts in India to provide grant support to programmes expected to benefit and improve livelihoods by enhancing opportunities for smallholder farmers in the country.

Flipcart representative Rajnesh Kumar, ICRISAT director-General J Arros Hughes and Action Fraterna director Malla Reddy also spoke on the occasion.

The SPU is expected to benefit over 6,000 smallholder farmers in Anantapur district. The facility which has a built-up area of 1,000 square metres, is operated by women-led Rythu Nestham Food Producer Company Ltd (RNFPCL). RNFPCL was established with support from ICRISAT and AFEC and formed by including farmers from nine FPOs across the eight mandals of Anantapur district. The facility is equipped with five processing lines, which will produce highly nutritious millet and pulse based ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat formulations such as traditional khichdi and upma mixes, high oleic groundnut products - nutrition bars (chikki), cookies, snacks and savouries, and healthy cold pressed groundnut oil.