SASRD organises farmers’ awareness programme on millets

DIMAPUR: Farmers’ awareness programme on millets was held at Multi-purpose hall SASRD NU on March 18.

It was organised by ICAR-IIMR Millets promotion scheme in collaboration with Farmers’ Cell NU: SASRD, Medziphema campus.

Addressing the programme, Additional Director of Agriculture, Jacob Yanthan, said millets were an integral part of diet in India for centuries and they are a good source of micronutrients, vitamins and minerals that belong to grass family.

Millet seeds are highly tolerant to drought and extreme weather conditions and  provides an alternative food system in times of increasing demand for vegetarian foods, contributes to a balanced diet, can be grown with minimal inputs and are resilient to climate change.

 Yanthan said that there are different types of millets found in Nagaland namely, foxtail millets, sorghum, finger millet, pearl millet and jobs tears. In Nagaland, millet is grown in almost every district with foxtail millet dominating the areas and grown in jhum fields. He said because of the many benefits of millets, the United Nations has declared 2023 as the International year of Millets as proposed by the Govt. of India.

The govt. is introducing this grain (millets) as the 21% century superfood in a sustainable manner with an aim to increase production and consumption of millets, he said.

In line with the IYoM 2023, the Department of Agriculture, Nagaland has prepared a set of calendar of events to be followed by launching of lYoM 2023 for Nagaland by the former Governor, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi on Republic Day, at Secretariat Plaza, Kohima.

He also said the department is on the process of taking up activities such as documentation and publication of Millet crops, exhibitions, celebration of millet festivals at sub – divisions and districts, dissemination of best practices of millet crop, farmers and extension workers’ exposure tours to create awareness and impart a sense of public and farmers participation about this nutritious grain.

Yanthan also further stated that the department of Agriculture has also strategised to encourage farmers to emphasise more on millet crops and has set the target to increase the area of millets in the state by about 10000 ha-more from the existing area of approx 8000 ha. The department also procured 20 MT of local millet seeds and distributed the seeds to the farmers as inputs support free of cost, he added.

Earlier, Jacob Yanthan also inaugurated primary millets processing unit at the Department of GPB, NU, SASRD.

The programme was followed by live streaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address from ICAR, New Delhi.

In the technical session, the importance of millets was highlighted by Dr. Pankaj Shah; and package of practices on Millet production with special reference to Nagaland was presented by Dr. Debika Nongmaithem.

Farmer – scientist interaction was also followed by visitation to primary millet processing unit and distribution of inputs.