The document discusses a national workshop on nutri cereals, emphasizing the importance of integrating millets and sorghum into Indian diets to address nutrition and climate challenges. It highlights a pilot study that showed millet-based meals resulted in faster growth and higher acceptance among school children compared to standard fortified meals. The document advocates for collaborative efforts in marketing and food processing to improve the image and accessibility of these smart foods.

1. &
A
ORGANIZED BY
NUTRI CEREALS
16thOCTOBER 2019
KRUSHI BHAWAN, Bhubaneswar
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
AND FARMERS' EMPOWERMENT
GOVERNMENT OF ODISHA
(ODISHA MILLETS MISSION)
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
COOPERATION & FARMERS WELFARE
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
(NFSM-NUTRI CEREAL)
A

2. SECTION - 16
SOUVENIR GNational Workshop on Nutri Cereal ~
DR. JOANNA KANE POTAKA
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR GENERAL,COMMUNICATIONS, ICRISAT
I TAKING A SMART FOOD APPROACH
Two ofthe biggest issues on the global agenda are nutrition and climate change. These are equally important
for India. Add to this the plight of Indian farmers and we have some tough challenges. Typically, solutions
for these big issues work in silos. The Smart Foodl
approach is about finding solutions that are good
for you, the planet and the farmer, in unison.
The first step in achieving this is to focus on diversifying staples with Smart Foods. Given that
staples are often 70% of a meal and typically refined carbohydrate, hence there is little nutrition
being gained, this is where we can have big impact.
Millets and sorghum are excellent foods to target to diversify staples. They fit the criteria of being
Smart Foods like the examples shown in Diagrams A, Band C.
,',
smart
food
Good for you

3. © SOUVENIR
National Workshop on Nutri Cereal
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4. National Workshop on Nutri Cereal
SOUVENIR
In the past, the biggest efforts and investments have been at the growing end. As a result, there is a big gap
at the consumer end which especially needs marketing to build awareness and change the image, as well as
working with processors to make modern, convenient and affordable products available.
For longer term sustainability of any efforts to bring millets and sorghum into mainstream, they need to be
tasty and have a positive image. Marketing, food processors, cooks and chefs play a key role in achieving this.
What is often missed is that the food processors struggle just as much as farmers. The Small - Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) are the pioneers of the millet and sorghum industry and equally deserve supporting.
The need for marketing and tasty products are just as important when being brought into a feeding
program as it is when being made into commercially available products.
Also just including millets into a feeding program because they are nutritious, will not always be highly
impactful, unless key criteria are taken into account.
Results are about to be officially released to the media of a recent pilot undertaken, which is the first known
‘scientific study’1 on introducing millets into school feeding, that tested the acceptance and nutritional
impact. Early presentation of the results of the study are included here which was undertaken by the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Akshaya Patra.
Approximately 1,500 adolescent school children from two schools were provided a millet based mid-day
meal for 3 months. Another two schools being fed the standard fortified rice and samba mid-day meals
were the control group for comparison. 10% of the children were tracked for their growth rate (using
anthropometry measurements) and also sensory evaluations undertaken every month to see how the
children were liking each of the millet meals.
The methodology to maximize the benefits was designed based on 6 components:
1. Understanding and targeting the nutritional needs of the consumers e.g. anemia.
2. Selecting the millets that best target the nutritional needs
3. Selecting the variety of the millets highest in the required nutrients
4. Use nutritional data that distinguishes by variety and does not use averages of the
nutritional level for a variety
5. Include an edu-tainment program (awareness program that is fun)
6. Especially designed menus taking into account:
O combinations of foods

5. SOUVENIR _______________
'-■jfioi :: Workshop on Nutri Cereal
O preparation and cooking methods
O equipment and cooking skills
O cultural sensitivities and taste.
With this approach being followed, the study results, that are about to be officially released, included:
O 50% faster growth for the children being fed the millet-based meals than those eating fortified rice-
based meals, in just 3 months.
O The children rated the meals 4.5 or higher out of 5 for taste, including eating little millet as rice.
The nutrition composition of the meals was laboratory tested - see graphs A-D. The newly designed millet
based meals were significantly superior for nutrition compared to the standard meals normally served of
fortified rice and sambar. Rice was not served at all during the three months, and on some days little millet
was served as a rice.
Graphs A-D: Nutrition composition of standard MDM of fortified rice and samba compared
to the millet based MDMs.
Iron and zinc
(mg/350g serving)
so
7 0
(M i
50
-40
Mt
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O
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s . i i i t b . i r l i x u f n i l
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n e e w ill* m iilct M illet m illet 1 ittle M illet m illet R a g i
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B ath S am b ar I pm a B .tih 1**>!*;»
• I r o n m g m / m e m g

6. SOUVENIR
National Workshop on Nutri Cereal
Iron and zinc
(mg/350g serving)
xo
70
<*o
5 0
4 0
30
20
Id
o I .
I orotic
iice
J N.tmKir I ortiticd
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I Kilo
m illet
N am bar B is i-b c tc K h ic h d i ld l w ith
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■ Ir o n in g ■ / m c m g
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M illet
BiM -bcle
B a th
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millet
I pm.i
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V . t r l &
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m illet
I ’o i l . I
Energy
(Kcal/350g serving)
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Fortified Sam bar Fortified Little Pearl Finger Pearl & Pearl Finger Pearl &
rice rice with millet M illet millet Little M illet m illet Ragi
Sam bar B isi-bele Khichdi Idly with millet Bisi-bele Upma millet
Bath Sambar Upma Bath Poha

7. SOUVENIR
National Workshop on Nutri Cereal
Protein, total fat and fibre
(g/350g serving)
4o
*5
15
lI o r l i l i a
r ic e
liSambar h u tilk -J l ittle millet Pearl Millet l inger millet Pearl & Pearl Millet I tngcr millet Peart & Kagi
n e e u itli Bisi-bele khtelult Idly with l ittle millet Bisi-bele t pma millet Poha
Sambar Hath SaniKu t (Mil.I Hath
»Protein i otal tat
MARKET APPROACHES FOR THE FUTURE
Marketing to position the image of millets and sorghum along with ensuring delicious recipes and
products, are important components to popularize and mainstream millets and sorghum. This requires
market testing and support.
This is important whether it is a feeding program or a commercial product. Keeping food tasty but still
healthy is possible but can take extra effort. Maximizing the nutrition and health benefits also takes specific
efforts and knowledge.
Now is the time to ensure Smart Food consumer foundations are in place for future growth.

8. WASSAN
V_
DIRECTORATE OF AGRICULTURE
& FOOD PRODUCTION, ODISHA
2nd Floor, KRUSHI BHAWAN, Gopabandhu Marg
Unit - V, Bhubaneswar - 751001, Tel: 0674 2395532
email: diragri,or@nic.in
Agriculture Information Wing
Bhubaneswar - OCT - 2019 - 200