Lenovo Tech Support Revives Millet Cultivation: A Story from Kanthalloor

Lenovo has set up a Digital Centre at the IHRD College of Applied Science in Kanthalloor, Kerala, to enable access to information on indigenous farming and expand the millet cultivator’s knowledge base.

At one time, the farmers in Kanthalloor, a remote village in Kerala, cultivated nearly 18 varieties of millet, but now barely a handful of them are grown there. An educational institute is working towards changing that. The campus of the IHRD College of Applied Science is buzzing with activity. A one-of-its-kind Tech Centre has been set up in the college by tech giant Lenovo. Where student volunteers are collaborating with volunteers from Lenovo for the benefit of local indigenous farmers who have taken up millet cultivation.

The Tech Centre is part of a project launched by tech giant Lenovo under its Work for Humankind (WFH) initiative to revive millet cultivation in Kanthalloor, which is located about 320 kms, in Idukki district, from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Lenovo’sWFH initiative pilot project, launched earlier this year, aims to revive millet cultivation in Kanthalloor.

Twenty five indigenous farmers, the early adopters, from six settlements in the Kanthalloor panchayat have been selected to be part of the pilot project. Of them, 16 are women. Earlier this year, they were given seeds to sow and cultivate millets in 40-50 cents each. So a total of 1,250 cents (5.05 hectares) is under millet cultivation under this project.

The initiative has a strong focus on the use of technology and two gaon chaupals have been organised by Lenovo so far at the village. All the project stakeholders including farmers, panchayat leaders and millet experts participated in it with great enthusiasm.

As part of the project, Lenovo’s tech support includes providing farmers information on best agricultural practices for millet cultivation, and at the same time collating and maintaining a database of traditional/indigenous farming practices. It also aims to make

farmers aware of policies/ schemes/ subsidies/incentives around millet farming.

New and traditional millet recipes to encourage farmers and end-consumers in Kanthalloor are also being compiled. The project is also creating bite-sized, easy-to-consume information nuggets around the key events, dates, and weather in the millet value chain. For example, informing the farmers when the next millet cycle will begin.

The initiative is also involved in tracking and sharing of the sales generated through the market linkage avenues created within Kanthalloor through the home stays and angandwadis.

This project, the first of its kind by Lenovo in India, is not just technology-driven. “Our role does not end with equipping the Tech Centre lab with gadgets. We want to be able to give much more. This will include services and solutions, warranties, taking care of the devices, providing damage protection… we will be there till the project gets on its feet and becomes self-sustainable,” said Shirley Dsilva, Head of Communications, Lenovo India. –

Elaborating further on the project, Dsilva said, “The student volunteers from IHRD College have been briefed on the kind of information they may have to source. They will then consult with experts we will put them in touch with and see how to proceed.”

“While we are not an agri-tech company, we have partners and customers who are working in the space. There are experts we can count on for information on and services such as checking of the soil, the quality of the seeds and other tech support,” she explained.

Farmers have bi-weekly and monthly virtual sessions on these topics among others at the tech centre at IHRD College. “We will also integrate relevant software into their phones so that they can make the most of the tech we offer,” Dsilva added.

The 25 early adopter farmers have been provided with Motorola smart phones by Lenovo so they can easily access agri apps.

Lenovo has also equipped the Tech Centre with a range of Lenovo devices such as ThinkPad’s, Idea Pads, Yoga laptops, Lenovo Yoga AIO 7 desktop PCs, Motorola Edge phones, and Lenovo tablets.

Pratima Harite, Head, Philanthropy, Asia Pacific, for Lenovo, said that Lenovo Work for Humankind will educate the farmers on crop protection and raise awareness on cost effective solutions to be adopted for crop care. “We will seek support and knowledge guidancefrom subject matter experts like Organic Kerala and Krishi Vikas Kendras to provide this knowledge,” said Harite.

“We believe we will be able to see the transformation. Before the Green Revolution, 40 per cent of the food grains were millets, now it is only 10 per cent,” she pointed out. Meanwhile, local leaders have pledged their support to the millet revival project in Kanthalloor.

The MLA, advocate Advocate A Raja, who inaugurated the tech centre at IHRD college, assured the farmers of any support they may need as they embark on a journey to revive millets. “It has been a traditional food crop in this area, we should bring it back,” he said.

The Kanthalloor panchayat president, 46-year-old PT Mohandas, also promised all the help he had at his disposal. He said reviving millets could be the best thing that could happen to the farmers there, and hoped that the project would lead to Kanthalloor millets getting a GI tag.

“Through technology, the farmers can be the leaders in this mission of reviving millets,” Mohandas said and thanked Lenovo for initiating the project in his panchayat.

The future roadmap of the project is ready. The panchayat of Kanthalloor has identified and allotted an area for a millet processing unit to be put up. Lenovo has brought on board Mini Srinivasan, a millet entrepreneur to help with that.

At the last gaon chaupal, Srinivasan addressed the gathering in Kanthalloor and presented a slide show where she explained the value-added products that could be made with the millets once they had been processed. She explained how the simple machinery worked.

Srinivasan had brought packets of the processed millets from her own business, and showed the farmers how if they could successfully grow and process the millets in Kanthalloor, they could make the various flours, vermicelli and so on with them.

The future of farming seems promising in Kanthalloor. “Technology is not only about new things coming in. It is also about bringing centuries-old wisdom back into circulation. This pilot project will ensure tradition is not lost, but documented,” said Harite, When tradition meets technology, transformations happen.