Dhenkanal Tuber Crop Processing Cluster
Modernising scientific methods to increase the productivity of tuber crops
Cluster vitals
Approval from MoMSME: 28 May 2021
Cluster location: District-Dhenkanal, Odisha
Product of focus: Sweet Potato Flour, Sweet Potato Chips, Sweet Potato Extruded Snacks, Sweet Potato Jam, Sweet Potato Noodles, Sweet Potato Vermicelli, Sweet Potato Pasta, Sweet Potato Mixture, Cassava Flour
CFC status: Functional
Production status: Functional
Marketing and Sales: Functional
No. Of lives impacted: 816
The state of Odisha is the largest producer of tuber crops in India. With suitable agro-climatic conditions, the tuber crops are produced here both in Kharif and Rabi seasons. With abundance of water resources in the Dhenkanal district of the state, there is plentiful tuber crop cultivation in the area. However, due to the absence of processing and storage facilities, most of the farmers’ produce get rotten and only a little reaches the market for sale. To add to it, farmers are not also equipped with sufficient knowledge regarding value addition to Tuber crop products like Sweet Potato and Cassava. As tuber crops are rich in essential macro and micronutrients, they have a huge demand in local, domestic as well as international markets. Tuber crops are also considered as an important source of starch next to cereals. With such a perspective in the backdrop, the “Dhenkanal Tuber crop Processing Cluster” has been proposed under the SFURTI Scheme of the MoMSME.
Through the interventions of the scheme, the cluster looks forward for a large scale production of value added products from sweet potato and cassava.
Through proper skill enhancement trainings as proposed under the scheme, the local people can adopt modern scientific methods to increase the productivity of tuber crops. The cluster has gained help from the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Bhubaneswar, in the form of cassava seed materials. The cluster has signed an MoU with “Greengenix” and “Ntier” for marketing under the brand name of “Granutrics”. They will also be selling on trade portals like Trade India, India Mart etc. and online platforms like Amazon, Flipkart etc. The tubercrop cluster is all set to achieve accolades for its effective production and sale in the market. It will prove to be a “poor man’s rich food” in reality!