GRAIN GAIN

Year of millets over, we need to dedicate a decade to these grains to build on the gains of 2023

- SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

The Food and Agriculture Organisation held the closing ceremony for the International Year of Millets 2023 in Rome on March 29 this year, with a firm commitment to build further on the achievements of 2023. It was the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in March 2021, where India proposed that 2023 be declared the International Year of Millets. Seventy countries supported the proposal.

As a result, the humble and muchneglected grains gained unprecedented global and national attention. Through the year, millets were arguably the most talked about food items on the domestic as well as international stage, and continue to be.

Countless events associated with the grains, cooking sessions, seminars, and product launches marked the year. No food spread at official or private ceremonies was complete without millet dishes, which were a highlight at the G20 in New Delhi last year.

Companies big and small rushed to capitalise, and launched a plethora of products featuring millets: From cookies to exotic and gourmet dishes.

More than 1,000 startups doing various work through millets sprang up in the last few years. No less than 30 to 40 global companies are working on these grains.

Vilas Tonapi, former director of the Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, who is now a research and development consultant at Advanta Seeds, told Business Standard the International Year of Millets showcased the grains on local and global platforms as crops that could help in ensuring food security without affecting the climate. The knowledge about millets spread far and wide.

Several novel food trends, such as the full range of Ready to Eat items, came up during the year incorporating millets. The millets value chain strengthened. Above all, says Tonapi, farmers started getting a somewhat better price for millets.

The millets journey