Chinese, according to their zodiac calendar has an animal to represent each year. The year of 2017 is the year of the rooster. But there might be a change in the year of 2018.
India has asked the United Nations to declare 2018 as the ‘International Year of Millets’ and promote it as nutrition-rich smart food across the world.
A letter in this regard has been written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
The proposal, if agreed, will raise awareness about millets among consumers, policymakers, industry, and R&D sector. Millet is a common term to categorize small-seeded grasses that are often termed nutri-cereals or dryland-cereals. It includes sorghum, pearl millet, ragi, small millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, barnyard millet, Kodo millet and other millets.
“Promotion of production and consumption of millets through conscious efforts at a global level is likely to contribute substantially in the fight against targeted hunger and mitigate the effect of climate change in the long run. Popularising millets would benefit future generations of farmers as well as consumers,” he said in an official statement.
The yield of millets can be increased three times and they have multiple untapped uses such as food, feed, biofuels, and brewing. Therefore, millets are smart food and good for consumers, farmers and the planet, he added
Eminent agriculture scientist, M S Swaminathan, is learned to have suggested the central government for this move in order to popularise cultivation and consumption of millets. Nutritionally superior to wheat and rice due to their higher levels of protein with a more balanced amino acid profile, crude fiber and minerals such as Iron, Zinc, and Phosphorous, millets can provide nutritional security and act as a shield against nutritional deficiency, especially among children and women.
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