ICAR – Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, North Goa, Goa organised a workshop on ‘Millets for nutritional security and prosperity in the coastal region’. The workshop was organised under the International Year of Millets 2023 to create awareness about the health benefits of millets, promotion of its cultivation and processing for value-addition.
Nevil Alphonso, Director, Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Goa was the Chief Guest of the workshop. He highlighted the prevalent millets cultivated in the state of Goa and need to revive its cultivation for increasing area under millet cultivation.
Guest of Honour, Dr. Pradeep Sarmokadam, Member Secretary, Goa State Biodiversity Board, Govt. of Goa, talked about increasing biodiversity through cultivation of millets and also emphasised upon the health benefits of the millets. Dr. Parveen Kumar, Director, ICAR-CCARI delivered a lecture on ‘Shree Anna: Role of millets in global nutritional security, climate adaptations, health and prosperity’. He elaborated in the details about the present status of cultivation and production of millets and different kinds of millets cultivated in the country. He simplified and stressed upon the importance and health and nutritional benefits of the consumption of millets.
‘Millets are climate resilient and less water requirement crops and thus makes these certain crops for uncertain future’, he said.
An entrepreneur couple, Dilip Balkrishna Sawaikar and Ranjana Dilip Sawaikar, Marcel, were felicitated and declared as ‘Brand Ambassadors’ of ICAR-CCARI for the state of Goa in appreciation of their role in the processing, value addition, branding and marketing of millets.
Sawaikar had recently inaugurated a millet processing unit under the brand name Jeevak Industries, with the technical support from the ICAR-CCARI, Goa. On the occasion, 30 farmers covering different taluks of the North Goa districts were given seeds of the improved varieties of the major and minor millets with the purpose to conduct Front Line Demonstrations under the technical guidance of experts of KVK and ATMA, North Goa.
The basic aim of the workshop was to initiate establishment of a complete value chain for millets starting from production to its processing and marketing. Linking the producers of millets to the processors was a salient feature of the workshop.
The Chief Guest and Guest of honour assured a wholehearted support to the ICAR-CCARI to promote the millets through systematic evaluation. About, 100 participants including farmers, stakeholders, representatives of state line departments, scientist and staff of the ICAR-CCARI and KVK North Goa attended the workshop. A small-scale exhibition on the millets to exhibit millets and its value-added products was also organised.
