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Singh urges FAO chief to declare upcoming yr as international millet yr
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Saturday, 18 August, 2018, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
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In a letter addressed to Jose Graziano da Silva, director general, United Nations’ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Radha Mohan Singh, minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Government of India, proposed the declaration of an upcoming year as the International Year of Millets in order to garner wider global attention and action.
Singh said India had declared 2018 as the National Year of Millets and was promoting cultivation by amending the cropping pattern of areas which were especially susceptible to climate change.
He added that the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had been actively promoting millets, which were not only highly nutritious, but also useful in the prevention of various lifestyle diseases. They enhanced resilience and risk management in the face of climate change, especially for small and marginal farmers.
The minister stated that government has recently increased the minimum support price (MSP) of millets by over 50 per cent of the cost of production, which is an important component of the efforts to achieve the national commitment of doubling the farmers’ incomes by 2022.
The letter followed Singh’s previous communication, dated November 2017, to the secretary general of the UN in this regard. The minister requested that this proposal be included in the agenda for the 26th session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) meeting, slated to take place in Rome between October 1 and 5, 2018.
Singh said the adoption of this proposal by FAO, with the support of its member nations, will enable it to be moved to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for the declaration of an upcoming year as the International Year of Millets.
He said that the matter had received the support of the member countries when it was
placed in the Bureau meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, which took place in July 2018.
“It is highly desirable that global efforts be stepped up to bring these nutri-cereals back to the food basket of a wide range of consumers - rural and urban, rich and poor - to boost their production as well,” Singh said.
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