Innovation

Based in the Indian city Hyderabad, Narayana Peesapaty started his manufacturing business Bakeys Foods Private Limited in 2010. Peesapaty wanted to “create a market force” for the local farmers by bringing back demand for millets, in doing this he aims to reduce the excess cultivation of rice which has resulted in depleting groundwater levels.

Peesapaty’s innovative solution to his problem was edible cutlery which is made from sorghum, wheat, and rice flours. This innovation was developed solely by Peesapaty working late nights in his kitchen where he experimented with different ingredients. Now he has created a fully automatic edible cutlery manufacturing machine. Peesapaty stated “put in the dough and out comes the cutlery packed in a paper pouch”.

Inspiration

Peesapaty stated that “if we can bring down the area of rice by 25% the depleting groundwater levels will reverse,” however he had to find an alternative for the farmers who would stop cultivating rice. This challenge inspired Peesapaty to bring in market forces in the form of edible cutlery made from sorghum which farmers could cultivate instead of rice. The idea of an edible spoon occurred “when I was eating food with plastic cutlery, I was thinking about the perils of plastic and then the eureka moment occurred. A millet roti is just as hard as plastic spoon so why can’t we use that instead” stated Peesapaty.

Overall impact

Peesapaty expressed that “in many places across India groundwater levels are dropping even with consistent rainfall because farmers are cultivating excessive amounts of rice which is depleting groundwater”. This issue is addressed by Peesapaty’s edible cutlery as it has the potential to reverse the depleting groundwater levels. The key ingredient in this cutlery is sorghum, which is a form of millet that requires significantly lower amounts of water to cultivate. Thus, his innovation is creating demand for millets and moving farmers away from cultivating rice, this in turn will reverse the depleting groundwater levels.

Business benefit

Initially the business struggled to sell the product as Peesapaty expressed that “people were not able to believe that such a product can be made”. However a video of the product circulated through social media which was the turning point for his business. Peesapaty claimed that he now sees “no threat to the business and good growth will continue”.

Social and environmental benefit

Impact on society

The key ingredient for the cutlery is sorghum, hence it provides farmers the opportunity to re-enter the millet market through farming. Even with the limited availability of water, farmers would be able to produce and sell crops as millet farming requires minimal water thus allowing them to sustain their livelihoods and continue farming.

Impact on environment

Peesapaty’s product positively impacts the environment in following ways:

1. The innovation aims to shift farmers from growing excess amounts of rice to sorghum, this in turn would reverse the depleting groundwater. In doing this the business is trying to preserve the groundwater levels and also reduce the electricity required to pump groundwater. Peesapaty said “the water required for 1 acre of rice can support 60 acres of millets”.

2. The innovation also is an environmentally friendly alternative for plastic cutlery as it doesn’t use any preservatives or chemicals and degrades in three days.

Interview

Narayana Peesapaty, Managing Director