Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave- Boosting Exports of Nutri-cereals

‘Millets-Smart Nutritive Food’ Conclave is to be a pre-launch event of the ‘International Year of Millets – 2023’ (IYoM-2023). Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave 2022 is being organized by APEDA.

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Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave UPSC Relevance

Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave: The Millets conclave is to be the pre-launch event of International Year of Millet – 2023. Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave 2022 is important for UPSC prelims 2023 and UPSC Mains Exam (GS Paper 2- Various governance initiatives in the field of health, nutrition and human development).

‘Millets-Smart Nutritive Food’ Conclave in News

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal will be the Chief Guest at the ‘Millets-Smart Nutritive Food’ Conclave to be held in New Delhi.
Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Smt. Anupriya Patel will be the Guest of Honour at the Millets Conclave.

‘Millets-Smart Nutritive Food’ Conclave 2022

About: the ‘Millets-Smart Nutritive Food’ Conclave is to be a pre-launch event of the ‘International Year of Millets – 2023’ (IYoM-2023).
Objective: The ‘Millets-Smart Nutritive Food’ Conclave is being organized with the objective of promoting the export of millets.
Organizing Body: Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave 2022 is being organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry through its apex agricultural export promotion body, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
Participation: At the Millets Smart Nutritive Conclave, stakeholders of the supply chain such as Farmer Producer Organisations, Start-ups, exporters, producers of millet-based value-added products are key participants.

‘Millets-Smart Nutritive Food’ Conclave Activities Planned

At the first-of-its-kind Millets Conclave, the government will release e-catalogue on 30 potential importing countries and 21 millet producing states of India.
Also, a knowledge book on Millets prepared in association with Knowledge partner ‘Yes Bank’ will be released on the occasion.
For exports of Indian millets’ promotion, the government has planned to facilitate participation of exporters, farmers and traders in 16 international trade expos and Buyer Seller Meets (BSMs).

At the Conclave, exhibition and B2B meeting will also be organized to showcase Indian millets and millet-based products.

India’s Global Share in Millet Production

India is one of the leading producers of millets in the world with an estimated share of around 41 percent in the global production.
As per FAO, world production of millets in the year 2020 was 30.464 million metric tonnes (MMT) and India’s share was 12.49 MMT, which accounts to 41 percent of the total millet production.
India recorded 27 percent growth in millet production in 2021-22 as compared to millet production in the previous year was 15.92 MMT.

India’s Millets Production

India’s top five millet producing states are Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

According to the fourth advance estimates for the year 2021-22

About 16 million tonnes millets have been produced in India, which is about 5 percent of the national food grain basket.
It has the highest market share of 9.62 million tonnes, followed by jowar with a production of 4.23 million tonnes.
Ragi is another important millet, which contributes to the production of 1.70 million tonnes and the production of other millets is 0.37 million tonnes.

India’s Millet Exports

Share of export of millets is nearly 1% of the total millet production.
- Exports of millets from India include mainly whole grain and the export of value-added products of millets from India is negligible.
As per the DGCIS data, India registered a growth of 8.02% in the export of millets in the financial year 2021-22 as the export of millets was 159,332.16 metric tonne against 147,501.08 metric tonne during the same period last year.
India’s major millet exporting countries are U.A.E, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Oman, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, U.K and U.S.A.
The varieties of millets exported by India include Bajra, Ragi, Canary, Jawar, and Buckwheat.
The major millet importing countries in the world are Indonesia, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Italy, the U.S.A, United Kingdom, Brazil and Netherlands.

Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave FAQs

Who is organizing Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave?

Ans. Millets-Smart Nutritive Food Conclave is being organized by Ministry of Commerce and Industry through its apex agricultural export promotion body APEDA.

Which Organization approved the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYOM)?

Ans. The year 2023 was declared as the International Year of Millets (IYOM) by the United Nations (UN).

Who proposed the International Year of Millets (IYOM)?

Ans. International Year of Millets (IYOM) 2023 was adopted by UN on the proposal of India.

What is the importance of International Year of Millets (IYOM) 2023?

Ans. International Year of Millets (IYOM) 2023 will provide an opportunity to increase global production, efficient processing and better use of crop rotation and promote millets as a major component of the food basket.

International Year of Millets 2023