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Healthy dishes tickle the taste buds in The Hindu cookery contest

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Winners of the Our State- Our Taste at Macharla in Guntur district on Sunday. | Photo Credit: HANDOUT_E_MAIL
Winners of the Our State- Our Taste at Macharla in Guntur district on Sunday. | Photo Credit: HANDOUT_E_MAIL

‘Varigala annam’ preparation tops the jury’s list

More and more people are realising the need to include in their daily menu nutritious millets that have more health benefits than the current food ingredients in our kitchens today.

Sources of fibre are hugely in demand, especially by people wanting to cut down on their weight and millets are loaded with it.

That precisely was the reason why the varigala annam (rice substituted with proso millets) cooked by V. Divya Bharathi, elbowed out many other delicious dishes, to emerge as the winner of the ‘Our State, Our Taste’ cookery contest being organised by The Hindu, in collaboration with Andhra Pradesh Tourism, in Macherla of Guntur district on Sunday.

The bran of proso millet contains vital nutrients that are essential for a healthy diet and is also an excellent source of fiber. It is gluten-free and has a significant amount of carbohydrates, protein, niacin (Vitamin B3) and fatty acids.

138 participants

Ms. Bharathi served ‘varigala annam’ preparation with ‘thotakura’ (amaranthus leaves) pulusu and ‘pappucharu’ and won the jury’s hearts.

A total of 138 participants showcased their recipes. A 10-year-old participant grabbed everybody’s attention at the venue.

A large part of the dishes comprised desserts like ‘kharjuram barfi,’ Apple-dry fruit kheer, ‘korra laddu’, ‘paala thaalika-paayasam’, ‘Nuuvulu-raagi laddu’, ‘mokkajana halwa’.

K. Prameela was the first runner-up, who made the traditional ‘sajja thappela chekkalu’ while B. Vijaya Lakshmi, the second runner-up, cooked ‘mulakkaya-endu royyala’ (drumstick-dry fish) curry. Two consolation prizes were also given to Parvathi and Veera Raghavamma. RKG, Fortune, Butterfly and Kanchi Kamakshi were the main sponsors of the event while CMR Group sponsored the gifts.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Medha Sreya  / Vijayawada – November 05th, 2018

GCC to open 21 outlets at IOC fuel stations

Business & Economy

They will be run by youth from Agency

Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) has entered into an agreement with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for opening of GCC outlets in major IOC fuel stations located in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Guntur and other cities and towns and in the twin cities in Telangana.

In all, 21 such franchisee outlets will be opened by the end of this month. These outlets would be run by fresh MBA graduates from remote Agency areas of Andhra Pradesh.

MoU between GCC and IOC was signed by T. Baburao Naidu, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of GCC, and Rahul Bharadwaj, Executive Director of IOC, in this regard on Saturday.

S. Ashok Kumar, General Manager (marketing) of Girijan Cooperative Corporation, V. Ramana Rao, Chief General Manager of IOC(retail sales), Jayabheer Mishra, Deputy GM (retail), IOC, and M. Gopal, Senior Manager (retail) of IOC were present on the occasion.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – November 03rd, 2018

Walmart India opens first store in Visakhapatnam

Business & Economy, Records, All, World Opinion

The ‘Best Price’ store in the city has integrated with the e-commerce and will facilitate the needs of all kinds of stores such as general stores, hotels, restaurants, houses, and the like.

Visakhapatnam :

Walmart India has opened its first B2B Cash and Carry store in the city, with the inauguration of ‘Best Price’ store, fourth in Andhra Pradesh and 23rd in the country on Wednesday.

“We are planning to expand Walmart with seven more stores in Andhra Pradesh which would be opened in Tirupati, Kurnool, Kadapa, Nellore, Kainada, Vizianagaram, and the second store in Visakhapatnam,” Krish Iyer, Walmart India CEO, said.

The ‘Best Price’ store in the city has integrated with the e-commerce and will facilitate the needs of all kinds of stores such as general stores, hotels, restaurants, houses, and the like. The Walmart will ensure convenient payment options, door-step delivery services which leads to create over 2,000 jobs locally (directly or indirectly), said the CEO.

Iyer further said that the company will invest to develop supply chain and to ensure growth of small and medium manufacturers in the State. Local clusters would be formed to outsource coconuts, melons, red chilli, vegetables, and other agriculture produce directly from the farmers to avoid middlemen. While the farmers get the double price of the produce, but, the price for customers would be best, he said.

Walmart earmarked $4 million in order to improve market access for small scale farmers in the State. The vision is to develop a chain with fruits and vegetable farmers and providing them access for training and more productive crop varieties, said the CEO.

He said the Best Price store will have over 5,000 items on display which include a wide range of fresh, frozen and chilled food items, fruits and vegetables, dry groceries, personal and home care items, hotel and restaurant supplies, apparel, office supplies, electronic goods and other general merchandise items.

Krish Iyer said that they have signed an MoU with Girijan Co-operative Corporation (GCC) to source Araku coffee and other products. He said four of the seven proposed stores would start functioning from next year. Whereas for other stores land still have to be identified which will take three to four years. He revealed that their focus is now on tier II and tier III cities. Punjab has the highest number of Walmart stores now and by next year AP will dislodge Punjab by having more stores, he said.

He said “we got good support from the State government and hence we are expanding our activities in the State.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Business / by ANI / November 01st, 2018

ZBNF revolution sweeps village in Andhra Pradesh

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature
ZBNF growers preparing cow-based fertilizer at Padarthi village in Prakasam district. | Photo Credit: KommuriSrinivas
ZBNF growers preparing cow-based fertilizer at Padarthi village in Prakasam district. | Photo Credit: KommuriSrinivas

Farmers on cloud nine over dramatic turnaround in fortunes

D. Rama Rao, like other farmers, had been using chemical fertilizers and pesticides recommended by shopkeepers at Kothapatnam. Despite heavy investments, the yield had not improved and his losses kept mounting.

However, after attending a workshop on Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) at Kakinada a couple of years ago, the farmer from Padarthi village in the coastal Kothapatnam mandal switched to the environmentally-friendly practice.

Seeing for themselves the result, a majority of the farmers in the village also returned to the traditional way of cow-centric agriculture made popular by Subash Palekar.

“About 70% of the villagers have now turned ZBNF farmers. We will make our village a model one by persuading the rest of the farmers to take to chemical-free agriculture,” he says in a conversation with The Hindu.

“Now, we prepare cow dung and urine-based concoction with ample use of neem and other natural products for various purposes starting with seed treatment to plant protection,” says another progressive farmer Koteswara Rao, who has taken up groundnut cultivation in sandy loam.

Undoing the damage

“We spray diluted cow urine to get blemishless colocasia crop,” says yet another another armer, Srinivasa Rao. It took two years to restore the soil health damaged by use of chemical fertilizers, adds the proud farmer showing the good number of earthworms in his farm, thanks to adoption of mulching technique.

Large tracts of land once used to be fallow in the village in the absence of assured irrigation.

Now, a variety of crops, including organic vegetables, are grown throughout the year by installing micro irrigation system, they say, adding “we are able to get a better price for the produce from the ZBNF store in Ongole and other places.”

“We will take the natural farming movement to other villages in the mandal,” they say, adding that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who wants to bring six million farmers under ZBNF fold, is their inspiration.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by S. Murali / Ongole – October 31st, 2018