NERAMAC’s Millets initiative: A step towards food security

A two-day event titled "Promotion of Millets Production in India" was organised by North-Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC), a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Government of India began at College of Agriculture, Lembucherra, Agartala on Tuesday. The event aims at generating awareness and promote benefits of millets consumption to create an upstream effect of increased production by farmers.

NERAMAC through a press statement said that Commodore Rajiv Ashok (Retd), Managing Director, NERAMAC, while setting the context for the event and welcoming the farmers, entrepreneurs and other participants highlighted the benefits of millets products and reasons to use them as an alternative to rice. He also spoke about the union government thrust towards this produce that led to past year being declared the International Year of Millets.

Anil S Kotmire, General Manager NABARD while addressing the farmers and stakeholders emphasized the need for extensive awareness generation on the importance of millets production. He also urged upon the farmers and entrepreneurs to themselves understand the value of millet consumption and work towards promoting consumption and thereby increased production.

Dr Debasish Sen, Principal, College of Agriculture, Tripura, spoke about the capacity of the College to assist farmers and the project being undertaken with NABARD in Millets. He also mentioned that there is a need to rationalize the need for processing units based on production and innovative means could be used to process these instead of attempting large scale proliferation of processing units.

The event was also graced by Dr. Arun Bhai Patel, Dean, College of Fisheries and State agriculture department officials among others.

The highlight of the event are the stalls displaying Millet products for sale and awareness of the public at large. The event witnessed participation of around 200 beneficiaries, including millet farmers and entrepreneurs from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. The event is supported by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Technical session on Mechanization of Millets Cultivation, Millet cultivation and its uses were hosted by College of Agriculture, Tripura and a Street Play on Millet cultivation and its benefits was also enacted. Tools and machineries used in millets cultivation was also displayed.