Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will be hosting a special 'Millet-only' lunch for members of Parliament of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Tuesday afternoon to mark the "Millet Year" a special initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PM Modi will be participating in this lunch on the Parliament premises on December 20. Special Chefs have been brought in from Karnataka to make ragi specialities like Idli and ragi Dosa, said sources. Rotis will be made out of ragi and jowar and will be served to the member of Parliament to promote millet-eating culture, added the sources. Other food items include Bajra and Jowar Khichdi and Bajra Kheer.
The United Nations has declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millet (IYOM). The government of India notified Millet as a nutritious cereal in April 2018 and millet has also been included in the Poshan Mission campaign. Under the National Food Security Mission (NFMS), a nutritious cereal component for millet is being implemented in 212 districts of 14 States. Asia and Africa are the primary production and consumption centres of Millet crops. India, Niger, Sudan and Nigeria are the primary producer of millet. Jowar and proso millet (Common Millet) are the most cultivated millet in the 112 and 35 countries respectively. Sorghum and pearl millet cover more than 90% area and production.
The remaining production comes from ragi (finger millet), cheena (proso millet), foxtail millet (kangni) and other non-segregated millet .India is the major production country of millet in which kangni, kutki or small millet, kodon, gangora or barnyard, china and brown top are included with Jowar, Bajra, Ragi and small millet. Most of the States in India grow one or more millet crop species. During the last 5 years, our country produced more than 13.71 to 18 million tonnes of millet with the highest production in 2020-21.
