MAHANGU

Pearl millet, commonly named Mahangu in Namibia , is one of the most important human staple cereals grown in the world today after wheat, rice, maize, barley and sorghum. In June 1998, the Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development (MAWRD), initiated a project termed " Technical Support to the Small Scale Mahangu and Other Grain Processing and Marketing Industry in the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs) of Namibia ".
CRIAA was commissioned to implement the project conducting a comprehensive baseline study, identifying a large number of mills in Northern Namibia, as well as technical and operational difficulties. As a result a second phase (1999-2000) was commissioned to investigate the technical constraints and economics of small-scale mahangu milling. The terms of reference required costed proposals for alleviating some of the critical technical constraints to the development of farm and village level mahangu processing in NCAs. The outcome was the following recommendations:
· A range of adaptive technical research addressing key constraints to mahangu processing by small farmers and small millers;
· Preparation and delivery of training to small millers to improve the efficiency of and financial returns from milling;
· A number of on-farm post-harvest practices identified during the study could be significantly improved to increase the volume of mahangu available for sale as surplus.