The ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Thiruvananthapuram, has started a ‘millet museum’ on its campus as part of its efforts to spread awareness about them.
On a 10-cent plot, the institute, which has a large campus at Sreekaryam, has planted different millets such as foxtail millet, little millet, finger millet, barnyard millet, pearl millet, kodo millet, proso millet, sorghum, and brown top millet.
The ‘museum’ is part of the institute’s millet promotion campaigns undertaken as part of the International Year of Millets-2023, CTCRI director G. Byju, who formally inaugurated the new initiative, said.
‘’We have a large number of visitors every day, including entrepreneurs and farmers who call at our Techno Incubation Centre. The museum is intended to raise awareness among people about the significance of millets in our daily diet,’‘ Dr. Byju said.
This year, the CTCRI too has joined various institutions and government agencies in promoting millets, which have been described as ‘superfoods’. The CTCRI had launched a series of programmes spanning one year to showcase the importance of millets in human diet, said Dr. Byju said.
In March, the institute had organised a Millet Food Festival.
J. Sreekumar, scientist-in-charge, Social Sciences, other scientists, and staff were present at the inauguration of the ‘Millet Museum.’
