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Showing Uganda some Indian food processing tips Hampapura Narasimha shows Ugandan women a new winnowing process It makes sense that experts from the developing world are more familiar than those from the developed world with problems and solutions for other developing countries facing similar problems and conditions. And although it may be a long way from India to Uganda in kilometres, as it turns out, it is not so far culturally. Hampapura Narasimha, a senior scientist from the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore, India, recently spent over two months in Uganda under the auspices of a United Nations Development Programme-assisted project and FAO's TCDC programme. His mission was to introduce simple grain-processing technology into the Ugandan countryside, where conditions are surprisingly similar to those found in India. "The pattern of consumption is somewhat similar to India. Finger millet is made into a thick porridge and consumed," said Dr Narasimha in an interview at headquarters after the assignment, his first for FAO. "The tradition in Uganda is to grind millet with a mechanical mill. I showed them a technique for debranning the millet using moist conditioning, then grinding with a plate or hammer mill," continued Dr Narasimha. "The advantage is a more pure flour with the bran removed. They tried the results and liked it." Dr Narasimha not only taught but learned a few things on his first trip to Africa: "I was surprised that women did most of the work, in both the home and the field. Also, I liked a little trick the women had of reducing cooking time by putting bicarbonate of soda into the cooking water." If one piece of post-harvest technology catches on, a common Indian kitchen appliance called a chakki may also become popular half a world away, in Uganda. Dr Narasimha introduced the chakki - a hand-turned stone and wood mill for grain -in a pilot village. The village liked it - it was three to four times faster than the traditional flat grinding stone and - at US$10 to $12 - is affordable for small farmers who have less than two-fifths of a hectare of land. A future TCDC project may train local artisans in chakki production. top of the page | What is TCDC?  Search our site  Comments?: Webmaster@fao.org ©FAO,1997