Businessline, in association with NABARD, is hosting a Millets Conclave in Hyderabad on Friday (September 15) to discuss various aspects of millets, right from its yield to exports, marketing and health and nutritional aspects.
The crux of the conclave will be panel discussions on ways to improve the nutritional value, and financial security of stakeholders in all sectors involved in millets.
The inaugural address will be by NABARD chairman Shaji K.V., followed by special addresses by secretary (DARE) and Director-General, ICAR, Himanshu Pathak, and APEDA chairman Abhishek Dev.
The panel on ‘millets for food security’ will have B Uday Bhaskar, Chief General Manger, NABARD; ED Israel Oliver King, Director, Biodiversity, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, and Saraswathi Malluvalasa, CEO, Arogya Millets Producer Co Ltd, as panellists. The session on improving millet yield will see TE Nagaraja, Prof, Plant Breeding & Head, ICAR Small Millets; GV Ramanjaneyulu, CEO of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture; Ramon Peachey, Director, Communications, ICRISAT, as panellists.
The session on ‘increasing millet exports’ will see RP Naidu, AGM, APEDA; Raj Seelam, MD, Sresta Natural Bio Products Pvt Ltd; Vishala Reddy, Director, Millets Bank; Nitin Gaikwad, Sr Manager, ITC Agri-Business on the panel. There will be a panel on ‘health and nutritional seurity’ which will feature a presentation by Devraj JP, Scientist, National Institute of Nutrition, along with a fireside chat with Krishna Ella, Chairman, Bharat Biotech.
A panel on ‘value addition and branding millets’ will have Ashutosh Deshpande, Head of Value Chain, Reliance Foundation; S Kiran, ED, VIKASA; Raju Bhupati, CEO, TrooGood and Rishika Reddy, ED, Millets Marvels.
The valedictory session will see C. Tara Sathyavathi, Director, Indian Institute of Millets Research, speaking on the progress in millet yields and consumption.
The Associate Partners are APEDA and TrooGood while the TV Partner for the event is NewsX. The event can be watched live on September 15 on www.thehindubusinessline.com
India is the top producer of millets in the world and has many types of nutri-cereals. The COVID pandemic and rising health concerns and consciousness have resulted in consumers turning to nutri-cereals. The Indian government has realised the key role that millets are likely to play in the future and has impressed upon the United Nations to announce 2023 as the Year of Millets.
