The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) participated in the Curtain Raiser of International Year of Millets 2023, which was held online recently, organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi.
Around 100 persons including farmers, students and staff members participated in the programme at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU).
Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare inaugurated the programme through virtual mode, and highlighted the programmes and the themes for the International Year of Millets 2023.
Enhancement of production, productivity, nutritional health benefits, value addition and processing, entrepreneurship development, awareness creation on packaging, international outreach of millets and policy interventions for mainstreaming of millets are the important focus for the International Year of Millets 2023 as highlighted by the Minister.
A. S. Krishnamoorthy, Registrar, TNAU, Coimbatore presided over the function. In his presidential address he spoke about the achievements of India in food security, and the need for nutritional security by way of giving nutritional and balanced diet. He also recollected the usage of millet based foods in olden days, and their importance in healthy diet, and stressed the future need for intake of millet based products and hence, he requested the farmers to increase the area under millets.
R. Chitradevi, Joint Director of Agriculture, Coimbatore highlighted the importance to increase the area under minor millets. Use of quality seeds, hybrids, fertilizer management, pest and disease management are important factors for increasing the productivity, she said.
During the technical session P. Rajkumar, Professor & Head, Dept. of Food Process Engineering, TNAU, Coimbatore, A.Subramanian, Professor (PB&G) and
Umesh Kanna, Professor (Forestry) delivered special lectures on Millet based value addition and processing, Nutri-Cereals and their role in human health, and role of plantations for sustainable agriculture.
As part of the programme, vegetable seeds for the nutritional garden were distributed to the girls students and farmers. Further, tree planting also done by students.