External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said a concentrated global push for millets is needed as three Cs — climate change, Covid and conflict — were impacting food security in some way or the other.
“In international relations, we should all be giving much greater attention to food security,” he said while speaking at pre-launch celebrations of 2023 as International Year of Millets.
Jaishankar said de-risking the global economy required more decentralised production, self-reliance as well as “willingness’” on part of the country not only to grow for themselves but to help each other too. “Look at the state of world affairs today. I would like you to reflect on the relevance of millets to that. There are three big challenges which we have experienced and continue to experience. They are Covid, conflict and climate. Each one of them, in some way, has impacted food security,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi and Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja were present at the event. Tomar said India, the world’s largest producer of millets, had raised domestic production from 13.17 million tonne three years ago to 18 million tonne in the 2021-22 crop year. (The Tribune)