Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar said that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), last year approved India’s proposal to observe 2023 as International Year of Millets and thereafter the United Nations General Assembly has adopted 2023 as International Year of Millets. The Agriculture department of the State and the Universities took the lead for the development and expansion of millets in Himachal Pradesh so that we could promote our traditional agricultural produce.
In view of it, a meeting was convened at Raj Bhavan with officers of Agriculture department and scientists of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University Palampur and Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, which was presided over by the Governor.
On the occasion, the Governor said that millets provide nutrition support, climate resilience and a reasonably good income to the farmers. These grains were grown on marginal land by the farmers, he added and said that the State has already implemented natural farming with multiple aims of making the agriculture more economic for the farmer and eco-friendly for the environment and indirectly protecting the population from the adverse effects of excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides.
Accordingly, cultivation of millets may also be provided the state support and to that end a suitable strategy may be laid down, he added.Prof. H.K. Chaudhary, Vice-chancellor, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur gave a powerpoint presentation and detailed about the background status of millets in the State.
He said that as per the statistical yearbook 2019-20, millets were cultivated over an area of 6.71 thousand hectare, having annual production of 5.88 thousand tones in the State.Secretary Agriculture Rakesh Kanwar said that the Agriculture Department was preparing a policy document for the development of millets.
He said that natural farming based on millets would be promoted and in view of its medicinal value, awareness programs would also be organized. People would be informed about millets through videos, he added. He said that areas would be identified where these were produced and farmers would also be identified.Secretary to Governor Rajesh Sharma presented vote of thanks.