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National Year of Millets
March 25 , 2018
2310 days
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- The Centre is promoting cultivation of millets like ragi and jowar on a mission mode to achieve nutritional security.
- Millets, also called ‘nutri cereals’, are being procured at the support price and also being included under midday meal scheme and public distribution system (PDS).
- Millet cultivation has declined due to change in consumption pattern, dietary habits, unavailability of millets, low yield, less demand and conversion of irrigated area for growing rice and wheat.
- As a result of this, level of nutrients like protein, Vitamin-A, iron and iodine fell in women and children
- This has led to a special focus on millets, which are being promoted under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) following recommendations by a committee headed by NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand.
Millets – Geographic background
- Millets are tolerant to drought, are photo insensitive and resistant to climate change.
- Their cultivation requires less water in comparison to rice and wheat.
- They are cultivated on low-fertile land, mountainous, tribal and rain-fed areas in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
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