It was a dream come true for V D Nagaraju, senior principal scientist, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) on Monday, when former prime minister H D Deve Gowda unveiled the Ragi Mudde Making Machine.
As a young food scientist, Nagaraju had dreamt of designing a machine to prepare ragi balls on a large scale when the humble staple food of the common man in central and south Karnataka was made famous by the then prime minister Deve Gowda.
When Nagaraju made a mention of his idea last year, Director of CFTRI Ram Rajasekaran, who has been instrumental in making millets popular among both farmers and people, encouraged him.
For over eight months the conceptual design, prototype, commercial design and fabrication of the ragi mudde making machine took the imagination, creativity and efforts of a team of nearly 20 persons. Finally, it was unveiled at the hands of the same person who was responsible for ragi balls appearing on the menu cards of star hotels.
Nagaraju, of the Design and Fabrication unit, CFTRI, said that the machine can make up to 250 balls per hour and would cost Rs 3 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh for fabrication.
“We do not sell the machines. We only transfer the technology and share the design for a nominal fee. The people or organisations who buy the design can get the machines fabricated from engineering units. The machines are suitable for hotels, hostels, religious and spiritual institutions, prisons and also office canteens.”
“The speed and capacity of the machines can be altered with some changes in the design. Future plans are to change the design to make ‘ready to eat’ ragi balls, by blending it with salt and vegetable chunks. Ragi is a useful food for children—right from just born babies to 16 years—when bone gets strengthened.
Again, for people above 40 years, ragi is useful for bones. Ragi is consumed as rotti, ambali and as malt. In these forms, ragi is consumed in limited quantities but as ragi balls, a person can consume at least 250 grams. Every 100 gram of ragi contains up to 390 milligrams of calcium,” he said.
The preparation in the machine ensures quality and hygiene. It needs just one operator. Only ragi flour and water has to be added as ingredients. This is another addition to the Make in India initiative of the Central government. The design has already received more than 100 enquiries from Karnataka state alone, Nagaraju explained.
Besides, if the ragi balls making machine becomes popular, farmers will also be benefitted. Even though ragi is a very useful food grain, it is less-water-intensive, cost-effective to grow and needs little attention. So, farmers can easily grow the millet and reap profits, he said.
Visit www.cftri.com.
Published 11 July 2017, 18:52 IST