The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has taken significant steps towards raising awareness about the importance of millets, also known as “Shri Anna”.
The state government is funding the ‘Uttar Pradesh Millets Revival Program’, which includes a detailed action plan to spread awareness about millets among the public. The program not only aims to promote millet-based recipes but also seeks to raise awareness about their nutritional value, officials here on Tuesday said.
To further encourage millet cultivation, substantial efforts have already been made under this initiative. However, the government now intends to take it a step further by promoting millet usage among the general population across the state. This will involve conducting consumer awareness programs in all districts and incorporating millets into the school curriculum.
To ensure effective implementation, the government is planning to provide training to teachers across the state to familiarize them with the significance of millets. By doing so, they hope to create a widespread positive impact on millet consumption and nutritional awareness among the people of Uttar Pradesh.
It is noteworthy that India holds the second position in the world in millets export, and the Central Government has an ambitious vision to make India known as the ‘Number One Millets Exporter Country’ in the near future. In such a situation, the state known as the food basket of the country can also play a big and positive role in achieveing this goal. With this objective in mind, CM Yogi has been given the green signal to implement the millets revival program across the entire state.
From February 01, 2023, a comprehensive campaign was launched by the Agriculture Department to encourage farmers to cultivate millets across the state, in which free seed minikits were distributed to farmers to support and promote millet cultivation across the state. Additionally, efforts were made to raise awareness about the benefits of millets among the general population through advertisements in newspapers and electronic media.
Now taking this sequence further, setting up of millets based processing unit is also being promoted in the state. In line with the new detailed action plan, various aspects of millet promotion have been prepared at the district level. This includes the development of millet recipes, organizing consumer awareness programs, incorporating millets into the school curriculum, and providing comprehensive training to teachers to enhance their understanding of millets.
To introduce millets as value-added and value-pressed products, fairs will be organized under the supervision of Millets Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). These fairs will serve as platforms to showcase and promote various millet-based products, fostering greater acceptance and usage of millets in the state.
In order to promote millets, the fairs which are planned to be organized in every district of the state, mainly school students, parents and teachers will be made aware. In order to create awareness about the merits of millets, emphasis is being laid on its inclusion in the educational curriculum. At the same time, at the initial level, 200 teachers will be given special training across the state. Through these, other teachers of the state will also be linked to the millets awareness program and will be trained to use Sri Anna, dispel the myths related to it and spread awareness. Different types of competitions on millets will be organized including essay writing, quiz, project works etc.
The District Magistrates will be responsible for the implementation of these programs in all the districts of the state and a committee will be formed in all the districts under the chairmanship of the District Magistrate, in which the Chief Development Officer as the Vice-Chairman, Deputy Director of Agriculture as Secretary and Basic Education Officer, District School Inspector, Regional Tourism Officer, District Horticulture Officer, District Agriculture Officer, Millets program FPO and a progressive farmer nominated by the District Magistrate will participate as a member.
Regarding the budget allocation for these activities, the Deputy Director of Agriculture will play a key role. After the approval of the committee, which is headed by the District Magistrate, the Deputy Director of Agriculture will pass the budget for the expenditure on all the millets promotion activities in the respective districts.