Year of ‘Lets Millets’
Calling the UN to have an
International Year of Millet
November 2017
“Millets have multiple benefits as they contribute to food and nutrition security for millions of people in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa, generate market opportunities for farmers, and are a critical solution to climate change.” Kofi A. Annan, Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation
Radha Mohan Singh, Minister of Agriculture
My proposal to UN to declare 2018 as the “International Year of Millets”
ProposalMillets are nutritious, sustainable, and can help increase incomes and ensure nutritional security for some of the most resource-poor dryland farmers across the world, as noted by both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech at World Food India 2017 and Union agriculture minister, Government of India, Mr Radha Mohan Singh, in his call to action proposing that the United Nations declare 2018 as the international year of millets.
As traditional staples in large parts of India and Africa, millets were a crucial component of our ancestors’ diets. A layered approach that focuses on creating consumer demand and driving farm-to-market linkages, with adequate support to farmers is an urgent need of the hour.
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