Speaking at the launch of the branded powder of ragi malt obtained from Kolli Hills at M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Taramani on Tuesday, he said the  State government could take a decision on this after the Lok Sabha elections.

‘The State government has successfully included three eggs in the noon meal scheme. They can also include these small millets,’ he said. The ragi malt being produced by Kolli Hills Agro Biodiversity Conservers Federation (KABCOFED) through self-help group members was now being sold at 40 retail outlets in and around Namakkal district.

The federation also manufactured nine other products including thinai laddu and millet bajji mix which would be made available in the city shortly. ‘Five species of finger millet (kezhvaragu), little millet (samai), Italian millet (thinai), kodo millet (varagu) and common millet (panivaragu) are being cultivated in the Kolli Hills in Namakkal district,’ said S Bala Ravi, advisor to MSSRF.

With the arrival of tapioca cultivation in Tamilnadu and the setting up of starch extraction factories in and around Salem, the millet cultivation suffered a big blow in Kolli Hills. For the last 30 years, more than 80 per cent of area under millets in Kolli Hills was replaced with tapioca.

The government policy to supply rice through PDS outlets also promoted lesser dependence of the local community on millets for their food security. ‘These two developments in a short time threatened the loss of the millet biodiversity evolved and conserved for 500 years,’ he said.

MSSRF senior scientist Oliver King said the foundation took of promoting millets and other traditional crops on Kolli Hills with the purpose of eco conservation. ‘Quality seeds of millets were locally produced with the participation of the farmers.

They were assisted to revive the tradition of seed storage system (thumbai) under the newly introduced village bank system in which grain milling and de-husking machinery are provided to mitigate the drudgery of the women who had been processing the grain with the tedious methods like mortar and pestle,’ he said. KABCOFED president C Selvaraj and MSSRF executive director Ajay Parida also spoke on the occasion.