Pahari Siddu, Natural produce and millet products on PK3Y stall a hit in Shimla Summer Festival 

Traditional Pahari dish siddu, millet tea, biscuits, sweets, and natural produce sold by women farmer groups from Shimla district at a stall put up by the Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana (PK3Y) of the Himachal Pradesh government has caught the fancy of locals and tourists alike at the Shimla Summer festival underway on the Ridge here.

The stall has touched sales of around Rs 80,000, with four women farmer groups, including two from Mashobra, and one each from Basantpur and Anandpur, selling the natural produce and products in three days. The four-day festival ends on June 4.

“It is the first such opening for us. We are happy with the outcome as the buyers are showing great interest in our fresh vegetables and millet dishes,” said Deepika, a young farmer, member of Mahila Krishak Samuh Kahala in Anandpur Panchayat of Totu block in Shimla. The 23 members in the group are practicing natural farming for two years on at least one bigha land each after they were trained by the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) staff.

The members of the group are selling nutrition-rich siddu, fresh natural vegetables and kheer, halwa, and soup made from different millets like ogla, Koda, and bathu that they are growing on their farms. The group earned Rs 40,000 in the first three days.

The Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana (PK3Y), a state government scheme, has been promoting non-chemical, low-cost, and climate-resilient natural farming in the state since 2018. As many as 1.59 lakh farmers have adopted the natural farming technique partially or fully on their land, involving an area of around 20,000 hectares across Himachal Pradesh.

 State Project Director, PK3Y, Naresh Thakur said, “It being the International Year of Millets (2023), the PK3Y is also promoting the cultivation of millets among farmers and is creating awareness about their significance in the diet.”

The millets are nutrition rich but are seen as forgotten food in the fields and the platter over a period of time.

Meenakshi, a farmer from Chowki village of Basantpur block, is selling millet biscuits, sweets, and ladoos at the same PK3Y stall in the festival and said there is a good response. “People ask about what is different in these biscuits and sweets. I tell them about the nutritional value of millet side by,” she said.

She said she buys different kinds of millet from the farmer groups in the state and makes biscuits and other products out of them.  She has started growing millets on a portion of her farm now and is a member of the women farmer’s group on natural farming too. “I learned about the merits of natural farming through a Krishi Sakhi, who was designated so by National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and trained in this practice by PK3Y in a camp. I also attended camps by the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) in the village and so started with the technique on part of my land two years back. I am getting good produce with natural farming practices and the expenditure is minimum,” she said.

Meenakshi has taken training in the processing of millets and has since put up stalls at several fairs and festivals in the state and outside.