الوصف

In ancient times, barley was used for flour and sattu making (local preparations) and also used as animal feed. The grain as well as straw or the ripe green crop is used as fodder for feeding the dairy animals. The other most important use of barley is for malt used in chocolate, infant food, weaning baby food, milk-based beverages, for beer and spirits. The medicinal properties of barley include diuretics and kidney stone ailments. Due to the liberalized trade policies at present industry for beer preparation increased and so the malt requirement in India has shot up. Today, the industrial requirement of barley is about 3.5 to 4.0 lakh metric tons and it is growing annually at the rate of *0 percent. At present ****5% of the total barley production is utilized for malt preparation. The six-row barley is lacking in the desired quality of malt and because of this, many companies have started contract farming on two row barley at farmers' fields in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan western U.P. and Uttarakhand. The companies provide quality seeds to the farmers and if required they will provide fertilizers, herbicides and they are purchasing the produce at a pre decided cost.