Page 39 - Mann Ki Baat - English, August 2022

and people looking for healthier and pesticides. Owing to their
food options, there has been a higher levels of protein with
renewed interest in millets. More more balanced amino acid
importantly, the Government profile, crude fiber and minerals
of India has recognised the such as iron, zinc, calcium,
increasing stress on the water, and phosphorus, millets are
land, and as a result, on food nutritionally superior to wheat
security and farmers’ livelihood. and rice.
To boost production of the
nutrient-rich millets and boost
Millet Production
the agriculture industry involved Millet Production
in India
in India
in it, 2018 was observed as the
National Year of Millets in the
country. After an India-sponsored 2015-16 2020-21
resolution saw support from over 20 MLT
70 countries in the United Nations
17.96
General Assembly, the year
MLT
2023 has been declared as the 15 MLT
International Year of Millets. 14.52
But what makes a group of MLT
‘coarse’ grains the protagonist
10 MLT
for the consumers, the farmers,
as well as the planet? Millets are
a group of small-grained food
5 MLT
crops that are highly nutritious
and can be cultivated on lands
with marginal or low fertility
without much use of fertilizers 0 MLT
*MLT: Million Tonnes

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