The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Café with ethnic touch

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Others

Café with ethnic touch

By Our Staff Reporter

ZAHEERABAD (MEDAK DISTRICT), APRIL 2. With the efforts to familiarise millet-based high protein food being successful, the Café Ethnic of Zaheerabad earned Rs. 14 lakhs in just one year of its inception. Over 2,000 women farmers of Pastapur and other villages near Zaheerabad, who grow only millets in their fields, and the Deccan Development Society that stood behind them drive this different hotel on the path of success. Profit for the first year of operation stood at Rs. 2 lakhs.

Close to the National Highway 9 in Zaheerabad town, the café resembles any other Dhaba. The menu includes items like idly and vada which are made of different material. Idly, vada and dosas are made of `korralu' or fox millet, little millet or `sama kichdi', `taida' or finger millet laddu. The ethnic dinner or lunch that costs around Rs. 30 per head offers you `taida roti', `ulava charu', `sama kichdi', `korra' fried rice, `pappu', buttermilk and `kheer' made of `samalu'.

Venture successful

The director of the Deccan Development Society, based at Pastapur village, P.V. Sateesh, is a happy man as the experiment yielded good result. "With different regions vying for scarce water, growing millet crop requires little or no water at all," Mr. Sateesh told The Hindu.

Contrary to the belief that coarse millet grains have no demand, the DDS confirmed growing demand for the poor man's cereals. The Goa-based organic farming association through its member units is trying to enrol more farmers in this region to grow millets.

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