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India, ASEAN launch 5-day ‘Millets fest‘
Context:
Recently, India and ASEAN has launched a five-day Millets Festival in Jakarta.
Key Highlights-
- The ASEAN-India Millets Festival starts on November 22, featuring a diverse representation, including Indian farmers, industrialists, and participants from ASEAN member states.
- The festival is a result of the effective working of the comprehensive strategic partnership between ASEAN and India, highlighted during the ASEAN-India Summit.
- The initiative stems from a joint statement on food security adopted during the ASEAN-India Summit, emphasizing millets as a crucial element for ensuring food security.
- Millets are recognized as a sustainable and farmer-friendly food choice, aligning with efforts to address global hunger and nutrient deficiencies.
- The Millet Festival sees participation not only from Indian farmers and industrialists but also from ASEAN member states, reflecting significant interest in millets.
- The event features a Millet-centric exhibition with contributions from Millet-based Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), start-ups, and Indian chefs.
- The Indian Mission to ASEAN and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare jointly organize the ASEAN-India Millets Festival.
What is Millet?
- Millet is a collective term referring to a number of small-seeded annual grasses that are cultivated as grain crops, primarily on marginal lands in dry areas in temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions.
- Examples: Jowar (sorghum), ragi (finger millet), Kodo (Kodo millet), kutki (little millet), kakun (foxtail millet), Sanwa (barnyard millet), cheena (proso millet), kuttu (buckwheat) and chaulai (amaranth).
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The United Nations has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets. |
Positives of millets:
- Nutritionally superior traits: Millet’s score over rice and wheat in terms of minerals, vitamins, and dietary fibre content, as well as amino acid profile.
- For example, Bajra (pearl millet), has iron, zinc, and protein levels comparable to that of wheat, but it’s gluten-free and has more fibre.
- It can address the problem of “hidden hunger” arising from the consumption of energy-dense but micronutrients-deficient foods
- Reduce blood Sugar Level: The rotis from bajra make one feel fuller for longer, as they take more time to digest and do not raise blood sugar levels too fast.
Advantages as a crop:
- Millets are hardy and drought-resistant crops.
- This has to do with their short duration (70-100 days, against 115-150 days for rice and wheat)
- Lower water requirement (350-500 mm versus 600-1,250 mm) and
- Ability to grow even on poor soils and in hilly terrain.
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