Busia start-up raises local millet farmer income through value addition

The com­pany sup­ports over 100 farm­ers with high-yield­ing im­proved fin­ger mil­let vari­ety seeds.

Re­lated News: KALRO introduces millet yielding 3X traditional varieties & marketing program

Re­lated News: KALRO launches eight new maize varieties resistant to the lethal necrosis viral disease

Its food op­tions are tar­geted at health-con­scious con­sumers, selling to them dir­ectly through theirFace­book page. Mil­let is a great al­tern­at­ive to maize and wheat flour-based products as it aids in con­trolling blood sugar. The sol­uble fiber in mil­let can help re­duce the amount of “bad” cho­les­terol in the blood. Cho­les­terol is such a large risk factor for heart dis­ease, mean­ing eat­ing mil­let reg­u­larly helps keep your heart health­ier.

Mil­let cul­tiv­a­tion is gain­ing re­newed pop­ular­ity amongst farm­ers be­cause of its ver­sat­il­ity and it being easy to grow. Mil­let can be used in the mak­ing of bread, beer, cer­eals, and other dishes.

Mil­lets are drought tol­er­ant and able to be grown in arid areas. While around 4,000 liters of water pro­duces one kilo­gram of rice, a frac­tion of that can be used to grow mil­let.

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