A virtual consultation was organized by CAbC, MSSRF on ‘Promotion of Local Foods – Problems and Opportunities in Wayanad District’ involving the experts and entrepreneurs in the area.
Dr. N. Anil Kumar, Senior Director, MSSRF had moderated the discussion, and the other panellists are Sri.K V Divakaran (WAMPco), Sri. P J Chackochan (Vanamoolika), Sri. Mohanachandran (Baza foods), Sri Sooraj (Entrepreneur, KINFRA), Sri. Premlal (Bayalnad), Smt. Padmini Sivadas (Trainer, Food processing).
Major Suggestions and Recommendations
- Sustainable farming practices has to be promoted for ensuring availability of organic/safe to eat food raw materials (food crop)
- Common Facility Centres in the form of Mini food parks has to be established in the district to facilitate low cost processing & packaging technologies including mobile units and procurement & storage facilities.
- Storage facility has to be established in the district that can store material for minimum of six months (cold storage for seasonal fruits and vegetables, dried storage conditions for spices, beverages, pulses and cereals)
- An Awareness campaign series could be done on the importance of consuming locally available food materials, focusing on what, how, and when to eat.
Dr. Anil Kumar has shared the recommendations and suggestions of this discussion in the Web Clinic series on ‘Science Society Setu for Atmanirbhar Bharat’ organized by SEED Division of Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India, (Click Here to Download the Presentation ) which was held in the afternoon. And it was unanimously opined to develop a project proposal with these objectives to bring an effective intervention towards ensuring the availability of high-quality food products to people from all walks of life.