Indian Economy News

Bringing back the glory of millets will make the country Aatmanirbhar in 3 areas-Food, Nutrition & Economy: Shri Piyush Goyal

While addressing the webinar on ‘Smart Agriculture: Bringing Back Glory of Millets; Moving Towards Aatmanirbharta in Edible Oil’, Mr. Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Textiles, and Commerce and Industry, stated that by focusing on millets, India is returning to its origins, similar to yoga.

2023 has been designated as the International Year of Millets for 2023.  Post-harvest value addition, increasing domestic consumption, and branding millets goods on a national and international level will all be supported.

He emphasised that India produces all nine common millets and that India is the world's second-largest producer and exporter of millets. He provided four mantras to help India become the world's biggest exporter of millets:

• States can replicate Karnataka's fruits model for crop diversification with a focus on millets.
• Collaboration with agri startups to provide the latest tech to ensure quality and aid in bio fortification of millets.
• Launch campaigns to create awareness regarding health and nutrition benefits of millets in families.
• International outreach to promote Brand India Millets.

He went on to say that the government has adopted reformative measures that have resulted in the greatest procurement of food grains from farmers at MSP-KMS 2021-22, which benefited 64 lakh farmers, and RMS 2021-22, which benefited almost 48 lakh farmers.

Following on the Centre's efforts, he said that almost four lakh hectares of rice fallow land in 100 districts across ten states will be used for oilseeds growing. In addition, 230 high-yielding oilseed regions have been identified. In the next five years, about 20 lakh hectares of land would be intercropped with oilseeds.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.