Minor millets in South Asia: learnings from IFAD-NUS project in India ...

Food seCuritY and inCome generation through Finger millet CultiVation in nepal 137
8.3. Constraints experienced in value addition of finger millet
There were several problems and constraints which hindered the popularization and
spread of value added products which need to be properly addressed in order to
promote the use of finger millet with success. These included:
The perception by people that finger millet is a low status food.
People were not aware of the nutritional importance and potential of
the crop.
There was lack of public interest in value added millet products.
The consumers did not like to pay high price of millet products as done for
wheat products.
The bakery producers and noodle producing industries were afraid of losing
the market of popular products.
There was no appropriate mechanism in place to popularize millet products
through print, media and other communication channels as well as through
display of millet based products in fairs and exhibitions.
There was lack of training to millet growers and entrepreneurs for value
addition and product development.
There was no provision of assured marketing.
There was no provision of financial support to small industries and
entrepreneurs for the production of diversified recipes based on finger
millet.
9. Cost: benefit analysis and marketing
9.1. Cost: benefit analysis
The cost of cultivation of finger millet was high in Pipaltar because the entire finger
millet cultivation activities were carried out using human labour. The investment
cost, gross income, net benefit and cost: benefit ratio is given in the Table 26. The
economic analysis of existing finger millet cultivation in Pipaltar showed that the
cost: benefit ratio was 1:1.13.
The cost of cultivation of finger millet was high in Khanigaun because the
entire activities were undertaken by human labour and no animal power was used
in finger millet cultivation. The total investment, gross income, net benefit and
cost: benefit ratio is given in the Table 27. The economic analysis of finger millet
cultivation showed that the cost: benefit ratio was 1:1.08. The cost: benefit analysis
of finger millet production from seed production at Khanigaun, Pipaltar and Kabre
(Table 28) indicated that the highest net income of NR 8,680/ha was received from
finger millet seed production at Kabre.
9.2. Economical analysis of local beverage production
The economic analysis of local beverage (rakshi and jad) production in Pipaltar and
Khanigaun indicated that the overall profit was very low. The cost: benefit ratio in
Pipaltar was 1: 1.1 to 1:1.6 whereas in Khanigaun, the cost: benefit ratio was 1: 1.06