UP Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi has said that while promoting the cultivation of coarse cereals crops in Uttar Pradesh, arrangements are being made for value addition and marketing by increasing coverage, increasing production and productivity. For this, 55 coarse grain processing and packing centers will be set up. This will benefit 72 thousand 500 farmers every year. Along with this, the general public is also being made aware to include coarse grains in the diet.
Shahi said these things on Friday at the International Trade Fair on Millets and Organic -2023 organized by the Government of Karnataka in Bengaluru. He explained in detail about the present status and future possibilities of Uttar Pradesh in the production and productivity of coarse grains. Agriculture Minister Shahi said that coarse grains are the traditional food of India. Millets are gluten-free, high in protein, fiber and antioxidant content.
In Uttar Pradesh, coarse cereals were sown in an area of 10.83 lakh hectares in 2020-21. In this, only bajra was sown in 9.05 lakh hectare area. Jowar, Kodo, Sawan, Madwa and Cocoon were sown in the remaining area. Thus Uttar Pradesh is full of immense possibilities for millets. Shahi said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, awareness about millets has increased in the entire country. With the inspiration of the Prime Minister, millets were notified as nutritious grains in 2018 and continuous efforts are being made to increase its production.
Along with this, Millets were included as Nutri Grains sub-mission under the Food Security Mission for food nutrition and security in the year 2018-19 by the Union Ministry of Agriculture Welfare. At present, coarse grains are also being purchased by the Government of India at the minimum support price and their prices are continuously increasing. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chowdhary, Karnataka Agriculture Minister BC Patil, Uttar Pradesh Horticulture Minister Dinesh Pratap Singh, Minister of State for Agriculture Baldev Singh Aulakh, Agriculture Production Commissioner Manoj Singh, Director Mandi Anjani Singh, Joint Director Statistics Sumita Singh were present.