NITI Aayog Releases Report – Promoting Millets in Diets

NITI Aayog Releases Report – Promoting Millets in Diets

NITI Aayog has released a report titled “Promoting Millets in Food: Best Practices in India’s States/UTs”.

The report presents best and innovative practices adopted by state governments and organizations in different aspects of the millets value-chain.
Millets are also known as nutri-cereals. These are collective groups of annual grasses with small and round seeds.
They are grown as grain crops for human food or as fodder for livestock. They are consumed mainly in arid and semi-arid areas.
Some examples of Millets – Jowar, Bajra, Ragi, Kangni (Foxtail Millet), Chena (Proso Millet) etc.
India is the largest producer of millets in the world and is among the top 5 exporters of millets in the world. However, there has been a decline in production as well as area under cultivation in India.

The following are the reasons for this:

Compared to millets production, crops like rice and wheat are being promoted.
Compared to other crops, production of millets gives less profit.
These crops have a relatively short shelf life. This causes storage problems.
There is less demand for these crops due to urbanization and non-availability of ‘ready-to-eat’ millets.

Initiatives to promote millets consumption in India:

Millets have been declared “nutri-cereals”;
These have been included in the National Food Security Mission (NFSM);
The year 2018 was declared as the ‘National Year of Millets’;
The United Nations General Assembly is observing 2023 as the International Year of Millets etc.

Initiatives by States to promote Millets –

In Andhra Pradesh, a massive revival of tribal millets cultivation is underway, and a drought mitigation project is underway.
Schemes like NFSM – Nutritious Grain Mission, Tamil Nadu Millet Mission have been launched in Nagaland.

Benefits of Millets: