A compendium of field stories showcasing experiences from Asian and African countries, including India was launched in New Delhi on Friday. The compendium will help in capacity building and scaling up the best practices in the adoption of millets across the world.
The compendium includes inspiring case stories to help countries learn and invest in traditional climate resilient crops such as millet, like India has been doing, especially during the International Year of Millet (IYM).
Furthermore, it signifies the successful realization of the Mapping and Exchange of the Good Practices (MEGP) Initiative for Millets Mainstreaming in Asia and Africa, initiated in July 2022 through the collaboration of NITI Aayog and World Food Programme (WFP).
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Suman Bery said that India successfully promoted millets for climate resilience, food security, and small farmers’ livelihoods, particularly women, during the International Year of Millets 2023. He added that these stories on millet mainstreaming will inspire practitioners and institutions to learn from the diverse good practices brought together.
“Millets must be made more fashionable or popular as they have health benefits, especially for lifestyle-related choices,” he advocated.
Meanwhile, Elisabeth Faure, Country Director, WFP, India, emphasized that collaboration through expert deployment, knowledge transfer, policy dialogue, and study visits to strengthen the food security of small farmers is an important strategy for WFP in India.
The compendium is expected to act as a reference for integrating millets into mainstream food systems, offering insights for making informed decisions and exchange through South-South Cooperation and policy dialogues.
Discussions were also held on the promotion of millets as a staple food, dietary diversification through millets and focused increase in investments and productivity.
Millets (Bajra, Jowar, Ragi etc) are one of the oldest foods known to humans. Millets were among the first crops to be domesticated in India with several pieces of evidence pointing to their consumption during the Indus valley civilization.
Millet is a common term to categorize small-seeded grasses that are often termed Nutri-cereals or Dryland-cereals and includes Sorghum (Jowar), Pearl Millet (Bajra), Finger Millet (Ragi), Little Millet (Kutki), Foxtail Millet (Kakun), Proso Millet (Cheena), Barnyard Millet (Sawa), Kodo Millet (Kodon) and other millets.
