Maha Govt forms a panel to prepare an action plan for the celebration of International Year of Nutritious Cereals 2023

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government on Friday formed a 14 member committee headed by the additional chief secretary (cooperation and marketing) to prepare an action plan of various programmes and their implementation to celebrate the International Year of Nutritious Cereals 2023 in the state.

2023 the International Year Millets

Millets have been an integral part of our diet for centuries. In addition to a plethora of health benefits, millets are also good for the environment with low water & input requirements. With the aim to create awareness and increase production & consumption of millets, United Nations, at the behest of the Government of India, declared 2023 the International Year of Millets. 

The cooperation and marketing department today released the government resolution signed by the under secretary Sunanda Ghadyale. The government resolution said that the committee will finalise the objectives for the action plan and in cooperation with the agriculture department will release a booklet about Know Your Millets both major and minor. The booklet will provide information with regard to millets’ benefits to the health, its plantation, availability of seeds, harvesting and post harvesting processes, primary processing and value addition. 

Committee to promote benefits of millets

The committee’s mandate also includes preparation of campaign materials about millets and use of social platforms to propagate and publish the benefits of millets. In addition, the committee will have to release various recipes of millets on YouTube.

Millets or Nutri-cereals are small-seeded crops and are divided into three broad categories viz. Major (Sorghum aka Jowar, Pearl millet aka Bajra, and Finger millet aka Ragi), Minor (Foxtail, Kodo, Banyard, Little and Proso millets), and Pseudo (Amaranth and Buckwheat)4. Millets are termed nutri-cereals as they are highly nutritious and can contribute substantially towards food and nutritional security. Maharashtra during the year 2020-21 witnessed a 5.3% decline in area under millet cultivation but interestingly, the state’s production has increased by 3.09%. A close to 70% of the millet production in the country is concentrated in the six states of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

State follows centre's lead

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in its report published in August 2022 has recommended enhancing the production base of millets in the country, varietal improvement to enhance productivity and profitability and Millet growers need to be incentivised through cash compensation and other measures.

The state government’s move came after the union agriculture ministry has formed a core committee and launched a Consultation on how to promote millet production and supply in the country has been held with different States, Processors, Chefs/ Nutritionists, Farmers. Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR) has been made a Nodal Institute for keeping track of all the policies, activities and communication. The ministry has constituted six Task forces to ensure on ground implementation.