Conference of Agriculture Ministers
By Our Staff Reporter
BANGALORE, 15 Jul: Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi participated in the two-day conference of Agriculture Ministers here. He spoke about “Mission Millet” (end to end production and marketing of coarse grains) in the state of Uttarakhand.
The Union Agriculture Minister and Agriculture Ministers of other states participated in this conference. Joshi stated that the millet program of the state is being prepared with a product-centric vision and is in the final stage.
Joshi said that millet cereals like Koda/Jhangora and Koni have been traditionally produced in the state and the conditions are also very favourable for this. “We are trying to link this traditional farming practice of farmers with today’s market requirements,” he declared. “For this, serious work is being done on taking cutting-edge agricultural research and available technology to the farmers and making their millet products available in the international market. Considering the quality of the state’s millet products, interest has been shown by European countries like Germany and Denmark. It will be our endeavour to export the millet products of the state to European countries and give maximum benefits to the farmers. We will turn millet agriculture into the most lucrative profession.”
He added that the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has declared 2022-23 as the Millet Year. This resolution of India has also been accepted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The market price of millet for the farmers is also much higher than that of other cereals. The farmers get paid for rice between Rs 15 to 17 per kilo, while the cost of millet grains is Rs 25 to 30.
The shelf life of millets from Uttarakhand is much higher than that of other states, according to multinational companies, he claimed. Therefore, today many countries are showing interest in coarse cereals from the state. Efforts are on to bring export level quality in their products and to create end-to-end solutions to make them available in the market.
Several success stories on organic farming techniques and other topics were also presented on the second and last day of the conference.
