AARDO’s Day 3 Millet Training Programme Emphasizes on Value Processing and Challenges in Millet Production

Today’s training session was moderated by Prof. M Moni, Ex-DG of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and Professor Emeritus at Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology addressing the participants from across African and Asian countries. He started by introducing Dr. Debabandya Mohapatra and James Rema Masisa to the audience.

Dr. Debabandya Mohapatra (Principal Scientist, Agro-Produce Processing Division, ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh) began by thanking AARDO for giving her such an opportunity. The key points from her speech are listed below;

• History of millets

• Production status worldwide

• Types of Millet

• Millet production and processing mechanization

• Millet Employment opportunities

Dr. Mohapatra emphasized on value addition and improved production of millets. She talked about various machineries used in the primary and secondary processing of millets.

The next speaker was James Rema Masisa (Directorate of Food and crop Ministry of Agriculture Migori, Kenya).  He talked about the challenges in millet cultivation from the African perspective. According to him millet negligence in science, agricultural programmes, and policies are some of the major drawbacks.

Millets, like other agricultural crops, encounter several challenges in their quest for greater productivity and output. One of the main issues is the loss of millet cultivation areas due to the conversion of millet-growing fields to more lucrative crops. Several elements contribute to millet cultivation restrictions; like lack of awareness, weed infestation, high cost of farm Inputs, labour intensive crops, limited research and many more. 

The programme concluded with the questions from the participants which were answered by both the speakers and a brief about tomorrow's session.

The main speakers of the final day will be Adeniran Ayodeji Bobby (Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture Nigeria) and Prof. Moni Madaswamy. The two will speak about global perspective of millets and startups involved in its production & processing. It will be followed by a Valedictory Session by Dr. C.V. Ratnavathi (Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research Hyderabad and Mr. Rami Qtaishat (Assistant Secretary General, AARDO).