India says committed to boost millets at global conference

India expressed hope to further strengthen ties in agriculture sector with various countries and lauded the efforts of the World Food Programme (WFP) in promoting food self-sufficiency and supporting governmental and global efforts to ensure long-term solutions to the challenge of hunger.

Taking part in the deliberations of the Global Millets Conference in New Delhi, the Indian Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the WFP of the United Nations, said a statement released by the ministry in course of the conference on Sunday.

Agriculture ministers from Guyana, Zambia, Suriname, Mauritius and Sri Lanka took part in the conference to promote production of millets. India is taking active part in the International Year of Millets (IYM) and promoting the production of millets by giving it the status of ‘Shree Anna’ (grains of grace).

India’s Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, “The International Year of Millets is being celebrated so that the Indian Shree Anna, its recipes and value-added products are accepted globally as a people’s movement.”

During the global conference, the MoU between WFP and the Government of India for cooperation between 2023-2027 was signed in the presence of Agriculture Minister Tomar. During this, Manoj Juneja, Deputy Chief Executive Director, Management and Chief Financial Officer of UNWFP, and Elizabeth Faure, WFP Representative and Country Director in India were present, according to the statement.

During his meeting with Guyana’s Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustafa, Tomar recalled the visit of the President of Guyana, Mohammad Irfan Ali, and the country’s Vice-President Bharat Jagdev, and said that agriculture is a very important area of cooperation between the two countries, said the ministry of agriculture statement.

“India is keen to share its expertise and experience in the development of agriculture and allied sectors in Guyana, for which an MoU is under finalisation. He assured that Guyana’s request for the deputation of two experts to ITEC from India for three years to support the Guyana Sugar Corporation management and revive the sugar estates/plants in Guyana would be considered at the earliest,” the statement said.