Our Bureau
A three-day Organics and Millets International Trade Fair 2019 will begin on Friday in Bengaluru. About 250 exhibitors including companies, start-ups, State governments and international institutions are participating in the event to popularise the benefits of millets among both consumers and growers.
Millets are witnessing a comeback as awareness of their health benefits spreads across urban areas resulting in an increased demand, said NH Shivashankar Reddy, Agriculture Minister, Karnataka.
States such as Chattisgarh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Kerala and Telangana are exhibiting the developments made in the organics and millets sector at the event. Also there will be international participation from seven countries including Chile, Poland, Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, the UAE, IFOAM, Germany and FIBL, Switzerland, he said.
Karnataka has witnessed a steady increase in organic cultivation to 100,000 hectares as on date, from 2,500 ha earlier. The Government’s aim is to increase this to around 1.5 lakh hectares in the coming three years, said KG Jagadeesha, Agriculture Commissioner, Karnataka. “In order to help farmers market their produce effectively, the government has formed fifteen regional organic federations through which organics and millets processing and marketing activities are taken up,” he added.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.