Raipur: The Government of Chhattisgarh signed a MoU with Indian Institute of Millet Research Hyderabad in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel with an objective to increase the production of Kodo, Kutki and Ragi in 14 districts of the state, a government statement said on Friday.
As per provisions of MoU, IIMR will provide technical information, high quality seeds to the farmers of Chhattisgarh and provide help and training in setting up seed banks.
Meanwhile, the state government will take care of input assistance, procurement on support price, processing and marketing through its special initiatives, the communique said.
While launching the millet mission the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said, Chhattisgarh will become the millet hub of the country in the coming days. Under Millet Mission, an initiative has been taken to give the farmers the right price for small cereal crops, provide input assistance, procurement arrangements, processing and ensure that the farmers get benefit of the expertise of experts, the CM said.
Like minor forest produce, we want to make small grain crops also the strength of Chhattisgarh.
Processing and value addition of millets will provide employment to farmers, women's groups and youth, he added.
Initially Millet mission was launched in the 14 districts of the state includes Kanker, Kondagaon, Bastar, Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma, Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon, Kawardha, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi,Balrampur, Koriya, Surajpur and Jashpur, the communique said.
