What is Millets Giveaway?

The Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium, a society promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare of the Indian government, has launched a special marketing campaign called Millets Giveaway. The campaign is aimed at promoting direct purchases from small and marginal farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to support their livelihoods.

What is Millets Giveaway?

The Millets Giveaway campaign encourages citizens to purchase millets directly from FPOs through ONDC’s My Store, a marketplace built for Indian sellers. Millets are the primary focus of the campaign, motivating more people to adopt these grains in their diet. This is a part of the nationwide and also the worldwide drive to promote these nutri-cereals in the International Year of Millets 2023.

Significance of FPO in the campaign

The campaign is being held through the FPOs. The FPOs have always played big roles in bringing changes in the lives of the farmers, especially the small and marginal farmers. Earlier the farmers used to cultivate the crops using traditional methods. FPOs helped them to learn new and conservative farming methods. Today, drip irrigation is a big success mainly because of these FPOs. Through good agricultural practices, the FPO helped farmers increase productivity by 30% to 50%. Also, the FPO played a large role in farm mechanisation. They rented farm machinery and demonstrated the usage of many machines.

Why Giveaway campaign?

The Government of India has been promoting millet on a large scale. During the Budget 2023-24, the finance minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman announced that millets will be promoted under the brand name “Shree Anna”. The APEDA signed a pact with a private firm called LULU to promote millets in the GCC. LULU is into the supermarket business. The food processing ministry launched the Bhojpur Millet festival. The government is promoting millet because these crops are highly nutritious and climate-resilient. Also, the Millet International Initiative for Research and Awareness was launched. The campaign will help the government achieve its plan on promoting millet.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2023

Category: Agriculture Current Affairs • Economy & Banking Current Affairs