Smt. Saroja N Patil hails from Nittur Village, Davangere District, Karnataka. Being born in a family of farmers, her entire life revolved around agriculture, and from a very young age, she was actively involved in agricultural activities. Carrying the legacy of her family forward, she along with her husband Nagendrappa S Patil has been engaged in the cultivation and processing of Millets like Paddy, Ragi, Arecanut as well as Coconuts along with various vegetables.

Under the guidance of the Joint Director, Directorate of Agriculture, she learned the SRI technique of cultivating rice while conserving native Paddy varieties for seed purposes at the same time. Being a firm believer in the principle of “learning has no age limit”, she continued to educate herself about various agricultural practices and delved into the domain of organic farming. As a result, she witnessed an increase of 400kg/acre in the agricultural yield while retaining soil fertility. The cost of cultivation dropped significantly to almost 80% due to a decrease in labour and seed cost.

After dedicating more than 20 years to Millet processing and developing 63 Paddy seed varieties, she saw immense scope in Millets to be developed into a healthy food alternative for commercial consumption. In order to start a product line dedicated to the processing of Millet-based products like Malt Powder, Cereals, and RTC Mixes, she established her enterprise “Tadhvanam” in February 2021 in Davangere, Karnataka.

She was looking for financial and technical assistance for the efficient functioning of her enterprise and came to know about the PM Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme from the Agriculture Department. With Millets being the One District One Product (ODOP) for Davangere District, she has been provided financial assistance in the form of a bank loan under the PMFME Scheme. With the loan amount, she purchased a Flour Mill, a Pulverizer, a Band Sealer, a Packaging Machine, and a Dryer Machine.

The first stage in the processing of Millets is drying of the crop where the application of the Dryer Machine comes into play. The second phase is of generating fine quality powder from dried Millets. This is achieved with the help of the Flour Mill and the Pulverizer which generates fine quality Millet based flour which is then utilized for value addition of Millet based products like Malt Powder, Cereals, and RTC Mixes. The Band Sealer and Packaging Machine are being utilized to pack the processed millets products in various packaging sizes.

The workforce of Tadhvanam comprises 6 women along with Smt. Saroja N Patil. The products are being sold in South Karnataka, Bengaluru, Chennai. Recently, they have started supplying in Hyderabad. The products are sold to Sahaja Samrudha FPO for distribution and marketing of their products.

In order to understand the PMFME Scheme and its various benefits, she received assistance from the FPO, HDFC Bank, and the local Agricultural Office. This Aatmanirbhar Enterprise follows the mantra of “delivering products right from the farm to the family” and with the marketing support of the PMFME Scheme, envisions becoming a global brand.

To this day, Smt. Saroja N Patil continues to learn about innovative food processing techniques by participating in workshops and is also an avid reader of food processing publications, newspapers, etc. She is working for the social cause and supports children from financially underprivileged sections for their education, health, and accommodation.

Smt. Saroja N Patil has received numerous accolades for her exceptional work in the field of food processing like the “Mahindra Samruddhi” Award in 2013 for the development of 63 paddy seed varieties and the “Krishi Pandit” Award in 2008-09 presented by the Agriculture Department, Government of Karnataka.