HAMIRPUR, 6 Feb: Growing and eating coarse grains are more convenient than wheat and rice, and millet has high nutrition, which strengthens the body’s immunity and also provides strength to fight diseases, said Nate Bloom, CEO of Sorghum, USA.
During an interaction with the students of Career Point University here in Himachal Pradesh, held under the International Decade of Millets Programme 2024-’34, Nate Bloom, Indian Millet Initiative president Dr Satyen Yadav, and his adviser held talks with them on Monday evening and Tuesday, a statement said.
The central government has launched Shri Anna Yojana to promote millet in its budget. For this, Indo-US organisations like Sorghum United and India Millet Initiative have launched the International Millet Decade 2024-2034.
2023 was celebrated as the International Year of Nutritious Cereals, and under this programme awareness was spread among the people about coarse grains, so that health can be improved by adding it to their diet.
Earlier, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed at the university by Dr Satyen Yadav, Nate Bloom and Career Point University vice chancellor Dr Sanjeev Sharma to create opportunities to promote jowar and millet in value-added food, fuel and fibre applications for consumers.
Some of the common millets available in India include ragi (finger millet), jowar (sorghum), small millet, bajra (pearl millet) and proso millet.
They are cultivated in about 131 countries, and are a traditional food for about 600 million people in Asia and Africa. India, Nigeria and China are the largest producers of millet in the world.
Millet is also rich in calcium and magnesium. For example, ragi is known to be the richest source of calcium among all grains.
Millets provide nutritional security and act as a shield against nutritional deficiency, especially among children and women, experts said.
The high iron content present in it is capable of preventing the high prevalence of anaemia in women during the reproductive period and in infants in India, they added. (PTI)
Millets thrive in poor soils with little or no external maintenance, consume less water and are able to grow even in areas with very low rainfall. (PTI)