Director of Agriculture, Nevil Alphonso believes events like ‘Nachneachem Fest’ (Ragi Fest) will motivate farmers to take up the production of this variety of millet in Goa once again.
This year is the International Year of Millets and the Government of India is promoting these grains in a big way being one of the largest producers of millets in the world. Even in Goa, the Directorate of Agriculture participated in the Carnaval last month to send the message out with high-ranked officials dancing through the streets.
“The aim of the fest is to create awareness of health benefits of consuming millets, which used to be common in olden days in Goa especially ragi and vari (proso); encouraging farmers to take up millets farming and creating a demand for the millets varieties,” said Nevil Alphonso at a press conference on Thursday.
Curated by Goencho Festakar, Marius Fernandes the first-ever Nachneachem Fest will be celebrated on 12th March at Duler-Mapusa. Like all his 69 fests so far, this event will also be inclusive and packed with sustainable initiatives, traditional programmes, Goan food, millets delicacies and grafting training. He appealed to the people to come in large numbers to support the cause of millets farmers, who are finding it hard to make a living due to poor response for their produce while the same Ragi is expensive – a super food in Europe.
Senior journalist and champion of Persons with Disabilities rights Prakash Kamat, Project Officer of ATMA Kishor Bhave were also present.
