Page 40 - Mann Ki Baat - English, August 2022
P. 40
Instrumental in providing systems for sustainable farming.
nutritional security, millets have With increasing threats of climate
come under PDS, and have been change, cultivating these crops
introduced by the Government is a good risk management
in POSHAN Abhiyaan and are strategy for resource-poor small
now part of mid-day meals. and marginal farmers.
Millets can be a gamechanger in India is a world leader in
combating malnutrition among production of millets, with several
children, as they act as a shield varieties being cultivated in the
against nutritional deficiency. country — bajra (pearl millet),
Millets also help tackle health ragi (finger millet), ramdana
challenges such as obesity, (amaranth), kuttu (buckwheat
diabetes, and lifestyle problems millet), sanwa (barnyard millet),
as they are gluten-free, have a kangni (foxtail millet), kodon
low glycemic index, and are high (kodo millet), jowar (sorghum),
in dietary fiber and antioxidants. and barri (proso millet). The
In addition to being Government’s intervention of
beneficial for the consumers, notifying millets as ‘nutri-cereals’
millets are quite farmer-friendly. as against ‘coarse grains’ has
They are climate resilient, photo- also helped reposition these
insensitive, have low carbon and less expensive but nutrient-rich
water footprint, and can grow in grains in the food market. These
poor soil conditions with little or millets and products made by
no external inputs. Due to their processing them are becoming
short growing season, millets can increasingly popular among the
develop from seeds to ready-to- youth as they look for healthier
harvest crops in just about 65 alternatives.
days. They are also the best crops Recognizing the immense
for inter and integrated cropping potential of this crop, the
Dr. Mahalingam Govindaraj
has won the Norman E. Borlaug
Award for Field Research and
Application, announced by
World Food Prize Foundation,
for developing the world's first
biofortified bajra (pearl millet)
variety called 'Dhanashakti',
which has higher nutrition
value than regular pearl millet.
36
36
