PM Modi: Millets can solve food crisis, help climate change resilience
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that millets moving from villages to malls and supermarkets have also created a new supply chain across the country that has generated employment for the youth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Pappammal, a Padma awardee organic farmer from Tamil Nadu, at Global Millets Conference in New Delhi on Saturday. Prem Nath Pandey Citing examples of India’s lead in making yoga a global phenomenon and creating a global platform for pushing solar energy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that India has similarly promoted millets for global benefit.
Speaking at the ‘Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference’, he said millet will bring income to small farmers of the country, solve issues of food security, curb lifestyle diseases, and help in climate change resilience.
Modi said the global branding of millets will help India’s 2.5 crore small and marginal farmers who are dependent on these crops. He said this is the first time after Independence that the government has taken cognisance of the issues of small farmers at this level. Besides delegates from countries such as Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, and the Gambia, more than 75 lakh farmers virtually joined the event, held at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Delhi’s Pusa. A commemorative stamp and coin was also launched at the event.
Modi said India’s work towards promoting millets since 2018 has led to an increase in consumption in 12 or so millets-growing states — the consumption increased from 2 kg or 3 kg per person per month to 14 kg per person per month. He said more than 500 start-ups have been set up for millet products. Farmers’ organisations and self-help groups are also coming forward in this direction, he said.
In 19 districts, millet products have been selected under the ‘one district one product’ scheme of the government.
Going from local to global, the Prime Minister also spoke of the climate resilience of millets. He said millets can grow in adverse climate conditions, need very little water, and can be grown without chemicals. “This means millets protect the health of humans and the land,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference at Subramaniam Hall (PUSA), in New Delhi on Saturday. (ANI Photo)
He also said millets can address problems of both ends of the spectrum — its resilience can help countries in the global south address issues of food security for their population while also addressing the problem of food habit-related diseases on the rise in the global north. He said the high fibre content of millets help in preventing lifestyle diseases. “Shree Anna provides solutions from personal health to global health,” he said.
In addition to providing India’s expertise in millets to the world, Modi said the country would also like to learn from other countries their newer solutions. He urged the international delegates to create a stable mechanism in this direction for sharing ideas and creating a field to market supply chains across countries.
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