Myagdi, Aug 30: An industry has been established in tourism site Todke, located around the border of Raghuganga, Mangala rural municipality and Beni municipality in Myagdi, for manufacturing biscuits by processing locally sourced crops.
With support from the Gandaki province government and Raghuganga rural municipality, Jhinka Farmers’ Group has ventured the industry to manufacture biscuits by processing indigenous yields including millet in Todke Hill Resort and Homestay.
Raghuganga rural municipality, ward 5 chair, Man Bahadur Shermanjali shared that the trial for manufacturing biscuits from traditional millet, barley (Uwa), and buckwheat flour has turned successful.
“Millet biscuits have been produced on trial basis after setting up the equipment provided by the municipality,” he said. The ward chair added, “In the next phase, we are preparing to produce biscuits from buckwheat and barley as well.”
The equipment for grinding millet, buckwheat and barley, and processing and baking biscuits have also been installed for manufacturing purpose.
From Todke – a place located at an altitude of 2,300 meters above sea level, one can observe the sunrise, the hilly landscape and Dhaulagiri and Annapurna Himalayan range.
Bhim Sherchan, the operator of Todke Hill Resort and Homestay, claimed the industry would not only help promote the indigenous grains produced by local farmers but also boost tourism potentials in Todke.
In the fiscal year 2024/25, a project namely, ‘Manufacturing and Branding Traditional Barley (Uwa)’ was launched to preserve the disappearing indigenous crops.
The project was designed and implemented with the provincial government’s budget of Rs 7.5 million and Raghuganga rural municipality’s budget of Rs 2.5 million.
The project has expanded barley and millet cultivation over an area of 300 ropani. Under a 75 percent subsidy, 67 farmers were provided with 30 mini tillers, 18 threshing machines, 19 combine harvesters, additional 82 barley, millet and grass cutting brush cutters, a set of cookies production machines, 166 tarpaulins, 100 metal bins with a capacity of 300 kilograms, and around 8,000 meters long pipes.
Farmers were first informed about the importance of traditional barley, millet, and buckwheat crops before classifying the farmers and capacitating them on farming techniques. Trainings were conducted to transfer skills for preparing dishes using barley and buckwheat in local Jhinka hotel and homestay, it is informed
