Branded ragi in the offing

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) and the Karnataka government will form a consortium along with other stakeholders to promote millets. The consortium will work on product development and build a brand for Karnataka ragi (finger millet).

“There is a need to change the image of millets. Make them more modern and create a buzz around them. Developing appropriate consumer products is a key component to achieve this. They are highly nutritious and have health benefits, use less water and have high drought tolerance and increasing their market value benefits farmers,” David Bergvinson, Director-General of Icrisat, has said.

At a workshop held here on Friday, representatives from these entities discussed the challenges that hindered consumption of millets in the country.

“Millets are good from multiple points of view. So far our efforts have focused on the supply side and there has been considerable success in increasing yields and more resilient varieties. But I feel the demand side has hardly been touched at all, said Krishna Byre Gowda, Karnataka Minister for Agriculture.

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