Original article published in Riaan TV
The pandemic has made people more conscious and aware in improving their immunity and there is a shift to organic products. India is gradually realizing the importance of our very old traditional smart food. Not many people recognize millets today, but they are said to have been consumed in India for over 5,000 years.
In this context, in order to make more people aware of millets, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) has come up with a webinar series. As a part of their webinar series, they had conducted a webinar on “Millets as Smart Foods – USP for millet markets” on 5th Sep 2020.
Due to the coronavirus, people have stopped munching on junk food. To increase their life expectancy, they have come to use cereal in their diet. Cereal is gluten free, contains high protein fiber and high in antioxidant.
The session started with Dr. B. DayakarRao, CEO, Nutrihub giving welcome address. Director, ICAR-IIMR gave the current scenario of millets in the country. The chief guest, Dr.Hemalatha, Director, NIN, gave a very informative lecture on the meta analysis studies they are doing. IIMR and NIN will be doing a position paper on the same.
Millets are smart foods. That means they are doing good for you, good for the planet and good for the farmers. Dr. Raj Bhandari, Member, NTBN, GoI, Dr. B. DayakarRao, CEO, Nutrihub and Dr.Sangappa, Scientist, ICAR-IIMR delivered lectures in that order on these three aspects of smart foods.
Dr. N. G. Malleshi, Scientist-G & Head, CFTRI (Retd.) spoke on the topic “Processing of millets- Overcoming Nutritional Losses”. Communication and promotion forms a major part in taking this millets initiative forward. Ms. Joanna Kane Potaka ADG-External Relations, ICRISAT spoke on “Messaging & Communication Strategies for Millets Promotion”. Without dwelling upon the support given to startups to nurture and support them, the efforts across the valuechain will not achieve their desired output. This topic of support by Nutrihub to startups and different programs to them is dwelled upon by Ms Sri Devi Nune, Chief Business Manager, Nutrihub, ICAR-IIMR. The session ended with addressing Q & A of participants by the experts and Vote of Thanks by Dr.Anuradha, Scientist, ICAR-IIMR.
