BPL card beneficiaries will get a kilogram of mandwa (a millet) through public distribution system under National Food Security programme in Dehradun, Haridwar, US Nagar, and Nainital to get nutritional and medicinal benefits of millets, Uttarakhand agriculture minister Ganesh Joshi said. The government has also allocated a budget of ₹73 crores to promote millet production and distribution in the state, including Ram Dana and Jhangora. The government has also made organic agriculture a priority and identified 16,000 hectares of land along ganga riverbed in the state, the minister said.



A four-day `Shri Ann Mahotsva’ aimed to raise awareness about the nutritional and medicinal benefits of millets is underway at Dehradun as part of International Millet Year 2023, declared by United Nations. The four day festival have 134 stalls representing private, public institutions, academic institutions and government department to impress upon visitors to disseminate knowledge about importance of millets. “Uttarakhand is the first state in the country which has fixed minimum support price of Mandva, a millet, at ₹34 per kilogram. Oblivious farmers used to get fleeced by middlemen in the past but now with the help from agriculture mandis and co-operative societies government has been able to source Mandwa at MSP,” added Joshi.



He said that the government has incentivise sourcing of mandwa from villages by offering an incentive of Rs 1.50 per kilogram to 50,000 women associated with Self-help groups. “In this festival Uttarakhand is going to focus on quality of millets produced in our state and to channelise our efforts to double millet production by 2025,” said Joshi.



Quality millet production with a price matching the efforts by farmers in hills would help stop migration towards plains and encourage a villagers adopt agriculture as source of livelihood,” said the agriculture minister.



Himalayan Live Bureau

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