Millets are increasingly recognized as future smart foods because of its high nutritional value, climate resilience, and suitability for sustainable agriculture. With rising consumer awareness and growing demand for healthy millet-based products, there is a strong need for efficient and affordable processing technologies that can convert raw millet grains into market-ready products.
However, one of the major constraints in expanding millet commercialization has been the lack of suitable processing equipment for small entrepreneurs, farmer producer organizations (FPOs), self-help groups (SHGs), and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). To overcome this challenge, ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal has developed a centre of excellence on efficient millet processing machinery with an overall capacity of 50-60 kg/h for capacity building, value addition and enterprise development.
The developed machinery includes a complete range of equipment including primary (cleaning, grading, de-stoning), secondary (de-hulling, polishing, grit making, flour milling, IR based pre-treatment system) and tertiary (fermentation, roasting, and puffing). The Millet Cleaner cum Grader is suitable for cleaning and grading of all types of millets with a cleaning efficiency of 90–95 %. It has been designed with special interventions on its screen assembly and aspiration chamber for efficient cleaning cum grading of millets. The Millet De-stoner effectively separates stones and heavy impurities with a separation efficiency of 90–92 %. For de-hulling of minor millets such as finger millet and foxtail millet, a multi-millet De-husker has been developed with de-hulling efficiency of 80–85 %.
Further value addition is possible through machines such as the Millet Polisher, which removes bran and germ to improve the appearance, acceptability, and shelf life of millet grains, achieving polishing efficiency of 82–85 %. The Millet Flour Mill is suitable for preparing flour from all types of millets, making it useful for households, bakeries, and food processing units. The Millet Grit Making Machine converts grains into varied range of grits (1-4 mm) used in products like millet dalia, health mixes, and bakery formulations, with grit making efficiency of 95–97 %. These technologies allow entrepreneurs to diversify products and meet changing consumer preferences.
To support the growing market for ready-to-eat and functional foods, specialized machines have also been developed for roasting, fermentation, and puffing. The Millet Roaster is useful for production of roasted grains and ingredients for several value-added foods with a roasting efficiency of 95%. The Multi-millet Fermenter, having adjustable temperature from 25 to 100°C, can be used for preparing fermented millet products such as beverages, batters, and probiotic foods. A Millet Puffing Machine based on convective and conductive heating produces puffed millet snacks with popping efficiency of 85-90 %. These innovations are helping millet entrepreneurs tap into the rapidly growing healthy snack and convenience food market.
The developed machinery under Global centre of Excellence has been demonstrated to the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan during the Unnat Krishi Mahostav 2026 oeganized at Raisen during 10-13 April 2026. More than 1000 stakeholders including the representatives, FPOs farmers, self-helf groups etc visited the stall in the Krishi Mahostav and seen the demonstration of machine and shown interest for enterprise development using the developed millet processing machinery. The developed technologies have also been promoted among the distinguished dignitaries including the ministry officials, ICAR-dignitaries and other distinguished stakeholders.
The impact of these technologies has been significant for small and medium enterprise development. By enabling decentralized processing near production areas, it will the reduce transportation costs, minimize post-harvest losses, and increase returns to farmers through local value addition. The compact design, moderate cost, and ease of operation of the developed machine make it highly suitable for startups, FPOs, SHGs, and rural youth. Many women-led groups can also adopt these machines for income generation through cottage-scale processing enterprises. In addition to creating employment in processing, packaging, quality control, and marketing, the technologies contribute to nutritional security by increasing the availability of millet flour, grits, roasted grains, puffed snacks, and fermented products in the market.
The initiative strongly aligns with national priorities such as Atmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India, promotion of agri-startups, and strengthening of millet value chains. With increasing demand for healthy and sustainable foods, these efficient millet processing machines developed by ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering provide a practical pathway for transforming traditional grains into profitable commercial products.
(Source: ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal)
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