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Engineer quits job to process millets; annual revenues cross Rs 1 crore

Borra Srinivas Rao’s Manyam Grains procures millets from tribal farmers. Its plant near Visakhapatnam processes and markets nine types of millets. Manyam has increased farmer incomes by 30% and freed them from the clutches of exploitative middlemen 

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Aruna Raghuram
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Borra Srinivas Rao

Borra Srinivas Rao quit public sector BHEL to work with tribal farmers

Why would a mechanical engineer take to processing millets? “After completing engineering, I started working for BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited). I found my work boring and stressful. Friends suggested that I study rural management, which I did at  XIMB (Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar). I was deeply influenced by newspaper articles about the agrarian crisis, especially farmer suicides,” says Borra Srinivas Rao, 38, founder of Manyam Grains Pvt Ltd. 

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Manyam Grains supports tribal farmers by procuring, processing and marketing their naturally grown millets. These farmers live in the forest areas of northern Andhra Pradesh.

Millets are traditionally grown in the hilly areas of the tribal belts in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Manyam has a millet processing plant in Anakapalle near Visakhapatnam. It engages with farmers through FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisations). Intervention by Manyam has led to a 20-30 percent increase in the income of tribal farmers. In 2023-24, Manyam’s sales revenue crossed Rs 1 crore. 

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Also Read: Five women entrepreneurs earning crores from millet business

“During my childhood, I had a very romanticised impression of farming. My understanding of farming and rural life was based on the vacations spent at my grandparents’ place in the village. I enjoyed going to the fields and playing with cows and goats. Much later, when I mulled on farmer suicides, I thought the answer was to shift to organic farming,” explains the entrepreneur.  

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A tribal farmer harvesting millet (left); in the millet fields (right). Pic: Manyam
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However, Srinivas soon realised that organic farming was not easy for small and marginal farmers as it is labour-intensive and can result in lower yields.  His college professor advised him to explore millets since they are pest-resistant and do not require pesticides. 

Srinivas worked for a year with Earth 360, an enterprise working on millet processing. After learning about millet cultivation and processing, he set up Manyam in 2018.  

The venture works with FPOs. “The terrain is hilly, and the produce quality differs between farmers. So, it is difficult to deal with individual farmers. A farmer, on average, sells around 300-400 kg in a year to an FPO.  Last year, Manyam purchased 200 tonnes of millets impacting 400 to 500 tribal farmers,” says the entrepreneur.  

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Impact of venture 

Millets can be classified into two categories: naked millets (ragi, bajra and jowar) and husked millets. Naked millet grain does not have a hard, indigestible husk and can be consumed directly after harvesting, while husked millet has a seed coat.

“You need to process and remove the husk in the latter. One of the reasons millets were not popular earlier and moved out of our food basket was lack of processing technologies,” says Srinivas. 

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Inside the processing plant. Pic: Manyam

The venture processes all nine varieties of millets. So, millet diversity has improved in the region.

“We use ‘non-polishing’ technology to dehull millets to ensure healthy, nutritious products to our customers. The nutrition in the bran is retained. Generally, in the market, you get polished millets,” he explains.   

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Manyam conducts training for farmers for a charge. Apart from farmers, FPO leaders and government department heads have visited the enterprise for training. 

“We have contributed in many ways to the Odisha Millet Mission. I have written manuals on processing and have conducted training for farmers in that state. We are also trying to influence policy,” says Srinivas.   

Also Read: Tribal farmers grow organic millets and vegetables on once-barren land; income up three times

“Also, we have worked on quality parameters for millets. This has enabled millet farmers to avail schemes, such as loans to store millets in warehouses,” he adds.  

Focus on marketing 

While working with millet farmers in Odisha, Srinivas realised that only the market-led model could solve farmers’ problems. Farmers have surplus millets after what they retain for self-consumption. But if they don’t have market access (good price), they will stop growing this magic crop, he says.  

“Millet revival is only possible when the issues related to consumption, production, processing and markets are simultaneously addressed,” says Srinivas. 

“When working on a project called Comprehensive Revival of Millets Programme, I focused on marketing. The Andhra Pradesh agricultural department had knowledge of how to increase acreage and yield of millets. But not about how to process and market millets,” says Srinivas.

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Discussions on with Buddha fellowship mentor Sanjay Guha (extreme left)

Projects usually fail because farmers are not good at the market interface. They are not able to get a good price. If the economics do not work out, they go back to traditional cropping, he says. “We tried to take care of all aspects of the value chain as part of the programme – giving farmers seeds, helping them in agronomy (the science of managing and improving the production of crops), post-harvest management, setting up a processing unit, and marketing support,” he elaborates. 

Also Read: Veer Shetty: The truck driver who became a millet millionaire

In 2014, Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh into a new state. After this, the Andhra Pradesh government did not have sufficient funds and people lost interest in the programme. However, the area under millets and millet production increased. 

Middlemen problem

Small traders aggregated the millet produce and transported it to big processing mills in Nashik (a hub for millet processing). Processed millets were coming back to Visakhapatnam for consumption. There was an exploitative trade network, where farmers were cheated in both weight and price by middlemen. 

“I thought of doing something so that part of the millets grown around Visakhapatnam come back for local consumption. That motivated me to set up Manyam and a processing unit,” says Srinivas.   

women processing millets
Women workers supervising millet processing at the plant. Pic: Manyam

E Ravindra from Vasan, a Hyderabad-based organisation, and P Bhudevi, head of the Chinnayya Adivasi Vikas Sangam (CAVS) in Srikakulam, are Manyam’s co-founders. While Srinivas’ expertise lies in machinery, Ravindra’s networking skills enabled the enterprise to garner Rs 50 lakh as shareholder funds. The initial cost of purchasing and installing machinery in the processing unit was Rs 30 lakh. 

“The government of Andhra Pradesh has fixed a base price. But it does not procure millets. We ensure that farmers get the MSP (Minimum Support Price). If it is higher than the market price, we ensure that the farmers do not get an unfair deal,” says Srinivas.  

Also Read: Andhra MBA quits job to foray into millet business, earns in crores

Offline sales

Manyam is growing in areas where people know about millets. So, there is no need to convince farmers to grow millets. The lack of processing facilities is the hurdle the venture has addressed. Manyam procures raw millets from farmers, does the processing and sells the processed product to other parties. 

Sales are offline and in bulk. “We sell in 30 kg bags. Most of our customers buy from us and add value to the product and then sell it.

For instance, they buy millet rice and make it into ‘rava’ or ‘khichdi’ and market the value-added product. Organic stores in cities also buy in bulk from us and sell it under their brand name. Some retail customers also come to our processing unit and purchase,” he explains.  

Srinivas obtained the prestigious Buddha fellowship offered by The Buddha Institute, founded by IIM, Ahmedabad alumnus and social entrepreneur Ved Arya. The fellowship involved funding of Rs 10 lakh. 

“COVID derailed the farming supply chain. Manyam was hit by the pandemic. So, the money given by The Buddha Institute gave us stimulus to get out of the slump. The institute also helped us in networking. We got in touch with the SELCO Foundation through the institute. Some of the machines run in our plant using solar power,” he says. 

Apart from the use of solar energy, other eco-friendly practices followed by Manyam are providing chemical-free products to customers and minimum wastage. The husk on the millet which is removed is used as cattle feed. This generates additional revenue for farmers who earn Rs 10 to Rs 12 per kg for cattle feed. 

Roadmap ahead

“Our larger vision is that we want to make a market channel for processed units.  We do not plan to build another processing unit. We don’t want to spend on acquiring machines. We want to ensure the machines are used to maximum capacity. The plant works on one shift now. We want to do two shifts. We can process up to 500 tonnes a year. Right now, we process 200-300 tonnes annually,” says Srinivas. 

Also, he wants farmers to operate processing units and sell Manyam semi-processed millets. “We can do the final processing at our plant. This way farmers will earn more revenue,” he says. 

(Aruna Raghuram is a freelance journalist based in Bengaluru. She writes about people, environmental matters, parenting, DEI issues, and social/development enterprises.)

Also Read: Jodhpur entrepreneur builds Rs1.5 crore millet cookies business, exports to Gulf countries

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