HYDERABAD: Medchal district officials are helping women's self-help groups (SHGs) brand and market traditional snacks and sweets such as laddus, boondi, sarvapindi, sakkinaalu, kajjikayalu and gavvalu, officials said.
In Medchal district 3,585 women's SHGs have 38,526 members. Sixty per cent of the groups already prepare and sell ready-to-eat snacks themselves. The women make sweets both with jaggery and with sugar; they are also producing sweets from ragi, jowar and sorghum and selling mixes such as boondi and karappoos to consumers.
To give the products a marketable identity, rural development officials provided training on hygienic production, attractive packing and quality certification. The teams took groups to Kerala's Kudumbashree and to NITHM in Hyderabad to study processing methods and machinery. Trainers demonstrated modern machines and faster, standardised techniques for preparing batters, pickles and powders.
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Women's groups have started printing Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) certification details on their products. Officials also held special classes with BITS Pilani, Hyderabad faculty on marketing strategies, tie-ups with multi-national platforms, loan facilities and profit-loss awareness.
As the next step, officials are drawing up plans to sign agreements with e-commerce firms such as Amazon and Flipkart to expand sales and reach new markets.