Ludhiana: CIPHET bats for cereal, millet-based products

This initiative was carried out under the Scheduled Caste sub-plan scheme of the Government of India

The ICAR–Central Institute of Post–Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), organised a three-day training programme titled “Protein-Enriched: Cereal and millet based value-added products” from October 18 to 20.

Participants during the training programme on cereal and millet-based value-added products in Ludhiana. (ht photo)

This initiative was carried out under the Scheduled Caste sub-plan scheme of the Government of India.

The programme’s primary objective was to empower economically disadvantaged Scheduled Caste families and equip them to engage in activities related to cereal and millet processing, with a particular focus on the creation of value-added food products. The event saw the participation of fifty Scheduled Caste women from various villages of Punjab, including Sekha, Kot Dhuna, Maurnabha, Dhilwan, Bhakthgarh, Tallewal, Bhotna, and Uggoke.

Coordinated by surya scientist Manju Bala and Swati Sethi, scientist, FG&OP division at ICAR-CIPHET Ludhiana, the skill development programme included hands-on training in the processing of food grains. Participants learned about milling millets and cereals, pasta production, and the creation of bakery products from millets (including biscuits and muffins from finger millet). The training also covered the production of extruded and popped products using coarse cereals such as pearl millet and sorghum.

As a part of knowledge sharing, a training manual on the subject was released and distributed to the participants.