AMN/ WEB DESK
Top diplomats from a dozen foreign missions in China, experts from Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), China and World Food Programme (WFP), China and nutrition experts have lauded India’s initiative to declare the year 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets (IYM)’. At a millet roundtable event organized by the Indian Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday, the experts shared the heritage associated with the millet grains especially in Asian and African countries and their relevance in the current scenario including their economic, environmental and nutritional benefits.
India’s Ambassador to China, Pradeep Rawat launched a bilingual recipe book “Let’s Millet” during the event and spoke about the significance of these resilient crops and how they are of great value in the face of climate crisis and food security issues. On the occasion, an original song, “let’s begin with millets” was performed by iStrings, a fusion band consisting of Indian diaspora and friends of India, to a great response from the audience.
The roundtable discussion was moderated by Prasar Bharati Special Correspondent in Beijing which engaged the audience in a stimulating conversation on the essentiality of Millets in achieving food security and nutritional sufficiency and tackling climate crisis. The expert panel comprised Dr. Dong Le, Program Officer, FAO, China, Dr. Yan Jia, Head of South-South Cooperation, WFP, China and Ms. Liu Suiqian – a nutritionist from Beijing’s top private hospital – Beijing United Hospital.
Dr. Dong Le spoke about the heritage associated with the millet crops – the ‘super-food’ and ‘nutri cereals’- in various countries and FAO’s efforts to celebrate the IYM 2023. FAO is the main UN agency to lead the IYOM 2023 celebrations worldwide. The UN General Assembly has declared Year 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYOM) for raising awareness about the health benefits of the grains and their suitability for cultivation under changing climatic conditions. The resolution for International Year of Millet, adopted by consensus at the UN General Assembly, was sponsored by India.
Dr. Yan Jia spoke about the necessity of providing technical support to various agencies and enhancing the research base in various countries. She also advocated for shifting to a value based approach in the entire millets production ecosystem.
Ms. Liu Suiqian made a very informative presentation about the nutritional benefits of millets as compared to rice and wheat. She also suggested that a good way to make the next generation familiar with the taste of millets is to produce infant food from millets.
Ambassadors, including many from African countries evinced keen interest in the prospects of millets cultivation and related value chain, its potential to generate livelihood for small farmers and its nutritional benefits.
Ambassador of South Africa to China, Dr. Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele highlighted the importance of millet crops for the livelihood of small farmers in African countries and climate change mitigation.
Ambassador of Mali to China, Mr. Didier Dacko evoked the idea that countries in Sahel region in Sub-Saharan Africa may work together to further promote the millets cultivation in the region.
Among the special guests were the students from the Tsinghua International School, Beijing as representatives of the model United Nations. Entire house agreed that the youth need to be made aware about the benefits of millets by vigorous campaign which will help in making a generational shift in millet’s popularity and help in its mainstreaming. Along with this, technical support and capacity building of different stakeholders is of paramount importance to upscale the entire millets value chain.
The guests also enjoyed a variety of millets-based dishes prepared by the Indian restaurants – ‘Taj Pavillion’ and ‘Dastaan’. Few dishes were also prepared by the members of Indian community.
Millets have been used as main food in China since ancient times, especially in northern China which has suitable climatic conditions for millets cultivation.
Prof. Diao Xianmin, the leading scientist in Millets research at Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing told Prasar Bharati Beijing in an exclusive interview that IYOM 2023 will help increase the millet production in the future. “I think this initiative for the ‘International Year of Millets’, will for sure increase the awareness, especially the governments to understand its importance. With this, I think governments will increase the investment for research including the basic germplasm, collection, breeding, agriculture and even industry,” he said. Also, the ‘International Year of Millets’ can help the young Chinese to increase the consumption of millets as their diet which may also give a push to millets related food processing industry due to demand, he said.
As part of IYOM 2023 celebrations, Indian Embassy in Beijing collaborated with Indian restaurants – ‘Taj Pavilion’ and ‘Dastaan’ – and launched a millet food week. The food week got underway to a wonderful start as both the Indian restaurants displayed their culinary skill through innovative millet dishes. The menu was a full millet course in both the restaurants and the response from the old and new customers both was extremely encouraging.