Page 16 - NIS English February 01-15,2023

Cover Story Nutritious Cereals: India Leading

HOW INDIA WILL LEAD ON THE GLOBAL STAGE IN

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MILLETS

To promote exports of Indian millets, the Centre plans some important food shows, buyer-seller meets and
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to facilitate the participation of exporters, farmers and road shows.
traders in 16 international trade expos and buyer-seller n As part of promoting Indian Millets, APEDA plans to
meets. showcase millets and their value-added products on

In accordance with India's strong policy of promotion global platforms such as Gulfood 2023, Foodex, Seoul
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of coarse cereals, cooperation of Indian Missions Food & Hotel Show, Saudi Agro Food and Fine Food
abroad will be taken in branding and promotion of Show in Sydney (Australia), Food & Beverage Show,
Indian coarse cereals. Along with international chefs Belgium, Biofac, Germany and Anuga Food Fair, Winter
(cooks) as well as potential outlets like departmental Fancy Food Show at San Francisco
stores, super markets and hyper markets have been n As per the millets strategy of the Centre, leading
identified as buyers, so that B2B meetings can be held international retail supermarkets like Lulu Group,
and direct contact can be made. Carrefour, Al Jazeera, Al Maya, Walmart will be roped
Ambassadors of foreign missions in India of the target in to set up Millets Corners for branding and promotion
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countries and potential importers will be invited to of millets.
showcase various millet products including 'ready to n APEDA has also created a separate section for coarse
eat' millet products and assist in B2B meetings. cereals on its website and country-wise and state-wise

n Programmes to promote millets have been established e-catalogues have been uploaded for the information
in South Africa, Dubai, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, of the stakeholders.
Saudi Arabia, Sydney, Belgium, Germany, the United n The government has started preparing a five-year
Kingdom and the United States. The concerned strategic plan to promote millets and their value-
departments of the Ministry of Agriculture will facilitate added products in the international market.
the participation of various stakeholders in India in

will continue throughout the year. India, which
is chairing the G-20, will also serve at least one
millet-based dish at all of its events. During the
initial meeting, many millets dishes were kept For the past sometimes, whenever any
on the main course menu in front of the guests. foreign guest and head of state comes to
Globally, there is a growing preference for coarse
cereals. When a foreign guest or a head of state India, it is my endeavour to get dishes made
has visited India in the past, Prime Minister Modi of millets for them. My experience is that
has tried to offer dishes made from our coarse they like this dish very much and also try to
cereals. These dishes are also popular among
visitors from other countries. collect a lot of information regarding our
These initiatives by the government will help coarse grains. I urge our farmer brothers
raise global awareness about the importance of and sisters to adopt millets as much as
millets in sustainable agriculture as well as their
benefits as a smart food and a superfood. With a possible and take advantage of it. Today
production of over 1.80 crore metric tonnes, India many such startups are emerging, which
is poised to become the global hub for millets. are working on Millets.
More than 80% of the millets produced in Asia – Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
are produced in India. The first evidence of these

14 New India Samachar February 1-15, 2023