Mysore:The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) has decided to offer its in-house food processing facilities to  small and medium-scale farmers to help them process and market their produce at nominal cost.

In fact, the premier research institute  has taken an in-principle decision to offer its  vast range of machinery and processing equipment, most of which it has designed  for its in-house research, to all the public. Its  multiuse dhal mill which can be used  for dehusking, splitting and polishing of various pulses is being given to  users on first come first serve basis from Thursday.

A.S.K.V.S. Sharma, head of information and publicity , CFTRI , said  the  initiative was being taken for the first time by the institute.”The prime objective is to help economically hard up entrepreneurs.

For instance, if a farmer has produced 500 kgs of dal  he can bring it to CFTRI and use our dhal mill to process it at a nominal cost,” he explained, adding,  “We have various pilot facilities like pulse processing and fruits processing units, chappati and dosa making machines , and a  millet mill. People are welcome to visit CFTRI and look at the facilities before deciding to use them.”

Revealing that CFTRI director Dr. Ram Rajasekharan  came up with this people-friendly idea, Sharma says  the machines are  used by its scientific team  only until the research is underway and then are left idling. “But they can prove useful for others, which is why we came up with the idea of letting the public use the equipment,” he  said.