Bengaluru: Millets generate food for thought

Bengaluru: “It is important for us to raise awareness and promote millets in daily diets because of their nutritional value and ease of cultivation,” said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, inaugurating the International Trade Fair on Organics and Millets at the Bengaluru Palace Grounds on Friday. In a special initiative to promote millets and other traditional grains, the state government in collaboration with the Karnataka State Agricultural Produce Processing and Export Corporation (KAPPEC) and International Competence Centre of Organic Agriculture has organised the three-days fair starting Friday.

Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D.V. Sadananda Gowda, state Agriculture Minister Krishna Byregowda, state Urban Development Minister Roshan Baig, experts and representatives from many industries along with 250 exhibitors were present at the inauguration. The trade fair aims to give a boost to sustainable and organic farming and agricultural practices for growing cereals and millets.

Mr Siddaramaiah said that barring three years, the state has faced a serious drought situation in the last 17 years. Though the state is next only Rajasthan in the expanse of dry land, the government is encouraging farmers to grow different kinds of crops, helping them earn profits through agriculture.

Mr Byregowda lauded farmers and agricultural producers for adopting millets and organics. He envisioned a future where traditional grains and millets will once again rightfully take their place on every Indian’s plate. 

Declaring 2018 as the ‘Year of Millets’, Mr Gowda said that farmers contribute 18% to the country’s GDP and the agricultural sector generates 65% of employment. “Farmers were worried about drought and other factors. We tried to replace the crop pattern across the state accordingly and this has helped farmers get profits.”

The fair saw the launch of a millet recipe book and ‘Food and Nutrition Forum’, which will go on for all three days at the 30,000 sqft Food Court Pavilion. It will chef’s demos and seminars on a variety of subjects, like food and child nutrition, healthy snacking and weight management, global value chain models on farm linkages, investment and up-scaling required for millet production and export promotion of millets. 46 national and 32 international speakers are expected to participate.

“Such fairs help us introduce products on a larger scale. We started the company in 2011 and introduced our products in 2012. Now, we have a presence in eight cities in the country,” said Prashant Parameswaran, MD, Kottaram Agro Foods. ITF also has a farmers’ workshop dedicated to simplify sustainable and organic farming for farmers.