27-Jul-2022: Government to roll out several programmes in the country and abroad for popularizing Millets and other nutri-cereals

Government plans to hold several programmes in the country and abroad for popularizing Millets and other nutri-cereals. Besides, all Ministries/Departments of the Government of India, along with the State Governments, will promote the nutri-cereals in coordination with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) and Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE). This was stated by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, while chairing the meeting of Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on the subject ‘International Year of Millets’.

At the initiative of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Government of India had proposed to the United Nations for declaring 2023 as International Year of Millets (IYoM). The proposal of India was supported by 72 countries and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2023 as International Year of Millets (IYOM) in March, 2021.

Addressing the meeting, Shri Tomar said the Government of India has planned activities for grand celebrations of IYoM- 2023. The action plan of IYOM-2023 focuses on strategies to enhance production, consumption, export, branding etc. The Government has also launched PLI scheme for promotion of Millets, he said.

As part of the Prime Minister’s announcement of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Government, on 31st March, 2021, approved a Central Sector Scheme, namely “Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Food Processing Industry” with an outlay of INR 10,900 crores to be implemented for a period of seven years from 2021-2022 to 2026-27.

The primary objectives of this scheme include support to creation of global food manufacturing champions and support Indian brands of food products in the international markets. Specific food product segments having high growth potential have been identified for providing support under the scheme. These include ready to cook/ready to eat (RTC/ RTE) foods including millet based products.

Shri Tomar said a Committee of Secretaries under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary and a Core Committee chaired by Secretary, DA&FW and Secretary, DARE has been constituted to oversee the programmes and policies on popularizing Nutri-Cereals.

The Government has evolved the ‘Seven Sutras’ (themes) in the run-up to the IYOM, which will be rolled out by the concerned Ministry/Departments, - Enhancement of Production/Productivity (DA&FW/DARE), Nutrition & Health benefits (Ministry of Health/FSSAI), Value Addition, Processing & Recipe Development (Ministries of Food Processing Industries & Tourism), Entrepreneurship/Startup/Collective Development (Commerce and DA&FW), Awareness creation including Branding Labelling & Promotion (All Ministries), International Outreach (Commerce & Ministry of External Affairs) and Policy Interventions for Mainstreaming (Dept of Food & Public Distribution and DA&FW).

Millets are a rich source of Protein, Fibre, Minerals, Iron, Calcium and have a low glycemic index. India is a major producer of Millets, accounting for 80% of Asia’s production and 20% of global production. India’s average yield of Millets (1239 kg/hectare) is also higher than Global average yield of 1229 kg/haq. Major Millets crops grown in India and their percentage share of production are Pearl Millet (Bajra) – 61% share, Jowar (Sorghum) – 27%, and Finger Millet (Mandua/Ragi) – 10%.

The Government has taken several steps for promotion of Millets. To create domestic and global demand and to provide nutritional food to the people, The National Year of Millets was celebrated in 2018. In view of the nutritional value of the millets, the Government also notified Millets as nutri-cereals in April, 2018 and Millets were included under the POSHAN Mission Abhiyan. Over 500 Startups are working in Millet value chain while the Indian Institute on Millet Research, has incubated 250 Startups under RKVY-RAFTAAR. More than Rs.6.2 crores has been disbursed to over 66 Startups while about 25 Startups have been approved for further funding.

Today’s Meeting of the Consultative Committee was attended by the Ministers of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Sushri Shobha Karandlaje and Shri Kailash Choudhary. Members of Parliament who attended the meeting were Shri Asit Kumar Mal, Shri Bellana Chandrasekar, Smt. Jaskaur Meena, Shri Pradeep Kumar Chaudhary, Smt. Rama Devi, Secretary, DA&FW, Shri Manoj Ahuja, Shri S. Ramalingam, Shri Shrinivas Dadasaheb Patil and Shri Ram Shakal. Secretary, DARE and Director General of ICAR, Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra and Senior Officers of the Ministry and ICAR also participated in the deliberations.

22-Mar-2022: Millets as Superfood

Millets are food grains having high nutritional features and health benefits and are cultivated with minimal water & inputs.  They are cultivated across the country in various agro-ecological regions, having less infestation of pest and diseases and thus can be grown easily as organic crops.  Consequent to the initiative of the Government of India, the United Nations has declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYOM).  This will create both domestic and global demand and enhance exports from India.  To give impetus to the export of potential products as well as to remove the bottlenecks in the supply chain of nutri cereals, the Government, through Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has created Nutri Cereals Export Promotion Forum.

The production of millets has increased from 17.26 million tonne during 2019-20 to 18.02 million tonne in 2020-21. Under National Food Security Mission (NFMS) programme, the NFSM-Nutri Cereals is being implemented in 212 districts of 14 states. Under NFSM, assistance is given through state governments to farmers for interventions like cluster demonstrations on improved package of practices, demonstrations on cropping system, distribution of seeds of High Yielding Varieties (HYVs)/hybrids, improved farm machineries/resource conservation machineries/tools, efficient water application tools, plant protection measures, nutrient management/soil ameliorants, processing & post-harvest equipments, cropping system based trainings to the farmers etc.

The mission also provides support to Indian Council of Agricultural research (ICAR) & State Agricultural Universities (SAUs)/Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) for technology back stopping and transfer of technology to the farmer under supervision of Subject Matter Specialists/Scientists. The research organizations are supported for undertaking research projects that can help enhancing production and productivity of food crops. The State Governments can also promote cultivation of millets under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana –Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture & Allied sector Rejuvenation (RKVY- RAFTAAR) with the approval of the State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) constituted under the chairmanship of the chief secretary of the State.

To improve acreage, production and productivity of millets across the country, the ICAR through its nodal research institute on millets, Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad is giving emphasis on development of high yielding climate resilient new varieties/hybrids which are tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses with enhanced quality. The Government is popularizing nutri-cereals through Research &Development support and has established 3 Centres of Excellence (CoE). Support is also given to start-ups and entrepreneurs for developing recipes & value added products that promotes consumption of millets.

In order to facilitate the movement of the millets, Government has revised the guidelines for movement of the surplus production of millets to other States. The provision of inter-state transportation of surplus millets through Food Corporation of India (FCI) is incorporated to cater for advance demand placed by consuming state before the start of procurement.

The Government is implementing Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN), earlier known as ‘National Programme on Mid-Day Meal in Schools’ for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government-aided schools from 2021-22 to 2025-26, wherein millets can be used by States/UTs under the scheme.

24-Feb-2022: Bringing back the glory of millets will make the country Aatmanirbhar in 3 areas-Food, Nutrition & Economy

Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Textiles and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal said that with emphasis on Millets, India is going back to its roots like Yoga.

“Bringing back the glory of millets will make the country Aatmanirbhar in 3 areas-Food, Nutrition & Economy,” Shri Goyal said.

Following the Prime Minister’s address on the positive impact of Union Budget 2022 in the Agriculture sector, Shri Goyal addressed the webinar on ‘Smart Agriculture: Bringing Back Glory of Millets; Moving Towards Aatmanirbharta in Edible Oil’.

He gave four Mantras to make India a leading exporter of Millets. “1) States can duplicate the success of Karnataka’s Fruits Model for crop diversification with a focus on millets, 2) Collaboration with Agri Startups to provide the latest tech to ensure quality & aid in bio fortification of millets, 3) Launch Campaigns to create awareness regarding Health and Nutrition benefits of millets in families and 4) International Outreach to promote Brand India Millets,” he said during his address.

Stressing that India produces all 9 common millets, the Minister pointed out that India is the 2nd-largest producer and 2nd-largest exporter of millets in the world.

He added that the Government has taken reformative steps which have led to the highest procurement of food grains from farmers at MSP-KMS 2021-22 benefitted 64 Lakh farmers while RMS 2021-22 benefitted nearly 48 Lakh farmers.

Pressing on the Centre’s efforts, he said nearly 4 Lakh hectare area of rice fallow is to be used for oilseeds cultivation in 100 districts of 10 states. Also, 230 high-yielding districts of oilseeds have been identified. Nearly 20 lakh hectares area will also be brought under intercropping of oilseeds in next 5 years.

“Today, India is set on a path to become Aatmanirbhar. In this mission, the Government is working towards realizing the image of a self-reliant farmer with the best crops,” Shri Goyal said adding that Smart Agriculture is about using technology to leapfrog into a new era to build a resilient infrastructure for farmers.

Dr. T Mohapatra, Secretary Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE) and DG, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) during his presentation said that the Year 2023 has been announced as the International Year of Millets. He said that support will be provided for post-harvest value addition, enhancing domestic consumption & branding millets products nationally and internationally.

Global status of Millets: Area and Production region-wise (2019)

• India produces >170 lakh ton (80% of Asia’s & 20% of global production).
• Global average yield: 1229 kg/ha, India (1239 kg/ha).

Vilas Tonapi, Director, Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) talked about ‘Blueprint for International Year of Millets 2023’ followed by Dr. Hemlata, Director, National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) who spoke on ‘Nutritive Values of Millet Products’, Dr. Manjit Gill, President, Indian Federation of Culinary Association shared about ‘Millet Product Recipe Development & Popularization’, Dr C. Anantha Ramakrishnan , Director, NIFTEM talked on ‘Promoting Millet Value Added Products’,  Atul Chaturvedi, President SEA discussed ‘Case of Aatmanirbharta in edible Oil’, Davish Jain, Chairman, SOPA spoke about ‘Self Reliance in Soybean’ and Dr. Balram Singh Yadav, MD, Godrej Agrovet delivered his lecture on ‘Future of Oil Palm’.

8-Feb-2022: Millet Production

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) is implementing a Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals (Millets) under National Food Security Mission (NFSM) to enhance area, production & productivity of millets including bajra. Under this Sub-Mission, bajra is being promoted in 89 districts of 9 states including 14 districts of Gujarat. North Eastern States, Himachal Pradesh and UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been given flexibility to include the districts under programme. Through the efforts made by the Government, the production of millets has increased from 14.52 million tonnes in 2015-16 to 17.96 million tonnes in 2020-21. The production of bajra has also increased from 8.07 million tonnes to 10.86 million tonnes during the same period. The State Governments can also promote cultivation of millets and bajra under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture & Allied sector Rejuvenation (RKVY- RAFTAAR) with the approval of the State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) constituted under the chairmanship of the chief secretary of the State.

In view of the nutritional value of the millets, the Government has notified millets as nutri-cereals in April, 2018. The Millets are a rich source of Protein, Fibre, Minerals, Iron, Calcium and have a low glycemic index. The National Year of Millets was celebrated in 2018. To create domestic and global demand and to provide nutritional food to the people, Government of India had proposed to United Nations for declaring 2023 as International Year of Millets (IYoM). The proposal of India was supported by 72 countries and United Nation’s General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2023 as International Year of Millets in March, 2021. The Government is popularizing nutri-cereals through Research & Development support and has established 3 Centres of Excellence (CoE). Support is also given to start-ups and entrepreneurs for developing recipes & value added products that promotes consumption of millets. 8 bio-fortified varieties/hybrids of Bajra have been released for cultivation from 2018 to till date.

In order to facilitate the movement of the millets, Government has already revised the guidelines for movement of the surplus production of millets to other states. The provision of inter-state transportation of surplus millets through Food Corporation of India (FCI) is incorporated to cater for advance demand placed by consuming state before the start of procurement.

8-Feb-2022: Exports of millets to increase exponentially as Indian exporters find new markets

With demand for nutria-cereals rising steadily globally, the Department of Commerce expects millets exports to increase exponentially in the coming years as Indian exporters find new markets abroad.

Currently, India is the fifth largest exporter of millets in the world, according to 2020 data, with exports continuously increasing at around 3% CAGR in the last five years ending with 2020.

In 2020-21, India exported millets worth USD 26.97 million against USD 28.5 million in 2019-20.

World export of Millet has increased from USD 380 million in 2019 to USD 402.7 million in 2020.

Major exporter of millets are USA, Russian Federation, Ukraine, India, China, Netherlands, France, Poland and Argentina. Together, their millets exports stood at USD 221.68 million in 2020. Global exports of millets in 2020 stood at USD 466.284 million.

The top three importers of millets from India in 2020-21 were Nepal (USD 6.09 million), UAE (USD 4.84 million) and Saudi Arabia (USD 3.84 million). The other seven destinations in the top-ten list of India's millet export are Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, UK, Yemen, Oman and Algeria.

Altogether, these ten countries imported millets worth USD 22.03 million from India. Other countries accounted for millets imports worth of USD 5.13 million from India, taking the grand total of imports from India in 2020-21 to USD 27.43 million, according to DGCIS data.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been aggressively working towards facilitating shipments of millets by Indian exporters and helping them make inroads into new markets. Since organizing physical exhibitions and international trade fairs is not possible on account of the Covid-19 outbreak, APEDA has developed its own Virtual Trade Fair (VTF) application to facilitate interaction among exporters, producer organizations and international buyers.

In March 2021, APEDA organized its first Virtual Trade Fair – India Rice and Agro Commodity Show, which saw the participation of millet exporters also. A series of Virtual Buyer-Seller Meets (BSM) with Embassies, importers, exporters and product associations from India have been organized.

The top importers of millets along with their share in world import are Indonesia (8%), Belgium (7.36%), Germany (4.65), Mexico (4.1%), Italy (4.02%), United States of America (3.35%), United Kingdom (3.25%) Brazil (3.24%) and Netherlands (3.14%) in 2020. Top ten importers accounted for USD 221.7 million in 2020 out of the world import USD 466.3 million in same year.

India is the world leader in the production of millets with share of around 41% of total world production in 2020. India produces around 12 million MT of millets annually, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare data.

The various kinds of millets include sorghum (Jowar), pearl millet (Bajra), finger millet (Ragi), little millet (Kutki), small millet (Samai), foxtail millet (Kangni), proso millet (Barri), barnyard millet (Jhangora), kodo millet (Kodra), two pseudo millets (buckwheat and kuttu), Amaranthus (Chulai) and other millets.

To give impetus to the export of potential products as well as to remove the bottlenecks in the supply chain of nutria-cereals, APEDA has created Nutri Cereals Export Promotion Forum which also included millets exports. It has also organized a sensitization programme for millet start-ups to familiarize them about export opportunities.

APEDA has signed an MOU with Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) for making a strategy for promotion of millets and millet value added products. It has initiated a study on ‘Refinement of Millet Value Chain for Export Markets: Preparation of export strategy in wake of International Year of Millets, 2023’ through IMMR.

In a major boost to production and exports of nutri-cereals like millet, Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, in her union budget (2022-23) speech, announced assistance for post-harvest value addition and branding of millet products in the domestic as well as global markets.

16 programmes are being planned by APEDA for promotion of Millets and Value Added Products of Millets in UAE, Indonesia, USA, Japan, UK, Germany, Australia, Republic of Korea, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.  During the promotion programme, Buyer Seller Meets, Road Shows and participation in major international events will be organized to promote Millets and Value Added Products of Millets.