To boost millet’s nutritional value, the state government is contemplating include it in the mid-day meal (MDM) programme. To boost millet intake, RTDC hotels and restaurants are likely to feature millet-based items on their menus.
With the United Nations proclaiming 2023 the International Year of the Millet, the state views this as a chance to heavily promote this crop. On Friday, chief secretary Usha Sharma convened a review conference to consider various measures to increase millet consumption in the diet.
Rajasthan is the third-largest producer of jowar. Millets such as sawan, kangni, kodon, and kutki are also grown in the state’s tribal territories in the southern districts. The state offers a favourable environment for the production of jowar and bajra millets since they require less water and are less susceptible to insect outbreaks.
Dinesh Kumar, the agricultural department’s principal secretary, spoke during the gathering about the state government’s efforts to promote millet. According to him, the Rajasthan Millets Mission was announced in 2022-23, and 8.32 lakh small kits of millet seeds were distributed free of charge during the Kharif season in 2022. A Millets Centre of Excellence is being established in Jodhpur at a cost of Rs. 5 crores, and Rs. 40 crores have been set aside for the creation of 100 primary processing facilities, he added.
Millets offer nutritional and therapeutic characteristics that protect against significant ailments such as malnutrition, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Protein, fibre, vitamins, and minerals are abundant in the grain.
A state-level symposium on the nutritional benefits of millets, as well as an agro-processing conclave, will be held shortly to popularise millets throughout the state. At this conclave, millets producers, agricultural businesspeople, startups, voluntary groups, agricultural scientists, and authorities will debate a clear approach, according to officials. Similar seminars and talks would be held at the district and gramme sabha levels, as well as in schools, they noted.