Agriculture Current Affair 20 January 2023

Indian farmers need to shift from rice to millet cultivation to reduce high water consumption, says Amitabh Kant

Indian farmers need to shift from rice to millet cultivation to reduce high water consumption, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Wednesday said, adding that only millets should be given in the Centre’s flagship Poshan Abhiyan. Addressing an event organised by industry body CII, Kant said millets are nutritious and rich in micronutrients, particularly protein, and the challenge is to push the consumption of millets to a higher level in India.

“India needs to move away more and more from rice and wheat cultivation, and produce and export more and more millets.

“Cultivation of millets will also help save water,” he said.

Need to increase production, processing of millet: Tomar

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday stressed the need to increase productivity, production and processing of millets and said an adequate quantity of millets should be consumed for meeting nutritional requirements. The minister was addressing industry chamber CII’s National Conference on Millets: Ensuring Climate Adaptation, Nutrition and Food Security.

The United Nations has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millet (IYM) on the proposal of the Indian government.

“Millets is an Indian grain and it is full of nutritional value,” Tomar said.

Subsidy, PLI in agriculture industry’s Budget 2023 wish list

Higher input subsidy on fertilisers and agrochemicals, cheaper credit for the animal husbandry sector and introduction of production-linked incentives for agrochemicals can help boost the rural economy and increase rural demand, farmers and companies said, making their wish list for the upcoming Budget.

Some suggested higher allocation of funds to the rural employment guarantee scheme, saying that it would help increase cash flow to the rural economy.

Rural demand has taken a beating across categories, including for FMCG and two-wheelers. Inflation has been hurting households and real wages have fallen – both resulting in sluggish rural spending.

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