International Year of Millets 2023: “Tanmillets” Setting the Tone for a World Record Event.

International Year of Millets 2023: “Tanmillets” Setting the Tone for a World Record Event.  

Special Story by Mithran Sri Ram

Editor In Chief

National News Bureau

Wednesday 2^nd November 2022

Millets are among the first plants to be domesticated and are considered "nutri-cereals" due to their high nutritional content. They have served as a traditional staple for hundreds of millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia for 7 000 years, and are now cultivated across the world.

However, their cultivation is declining in many countries, and their potential to address climate change and food security is not being realized in full. This is despite the fact that millets can grow on relatively poor soils and under adverse and arid conditions, with comparatively fewer inputs than other cereals.

The need to promote the diversity and nutritional and ecological benefit of millets to consumers, producers, value chain actors, and decision makers is timely, and can improve food sector linkages.

India pitched the proposal to the United Nations for declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets. With the support of 72 other countries, India's initiative to promote millet was recognized and the United Nations General Assembly has recently declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets.

Millet is now the sixth most important cereal grain in the world.

There is growing attention by governments and industry in regard to the role played by millets to help build resilience for farmers and cope with climate change, malnutrition, diabetes, and some other major issues.

In joining the bandwagon - with a mission to revive the traditional food from our land of Tamil Nadu, “Tanmillets” are doing roadshows across the state to create awareness for healthy eating and benefits of millets in our lives.  Their First Roadshow on Saturday 1^st October 2022 @ Coimbatore, had a massive grand launch at Nirmala College for Women – with close to 50 + Millet Brands on display, 150 + start-ups and 1,000 + crowd at attendance ended successfully. 

In continuation to this success, “Tanmillets” Roadshow are planning to cover around 25,000 students + prospective new age entrepreneurs across Tamil Nadu covering major cities including Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Trichy, Vellore, Sivakasi, Ramnad, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil and Pondicherry.  Their Second Roadshow is scheduled on Thursday 3^rd November 2022 @ Sivakasi. 

Explaining the roadmap & the journey for “Tanmillets” on these Roadshows, Managing Director,Rtn. S. Sundar said,

“These road shows will create an awareness on the opportunity for Millets along with display of millet products across the region from various producers and help the entrepreneurs with brand promotion.  No wonder – these roadshows & events will serve as a bridge for the vendor producer relationship and also get new avenues for marketing.  

“Tanmillets” are associated with Millet Association and TamilNadu Agriculture University for their Roadshow support.

These road show will culminate into a World Record Event with 55 entrepreneurs showcasing 555 value added millet products under one roof in Jan 2023 thus setting the tone for yearlong celebration of the International Year of Millets 2023.

As Millets are one of low-cost produce and widely harvested products across Tamil Nādu, this initiative of Roadshows across the states and the World Record event planned during January will open up the gates for food entrepreneurs.  Needless to say, lot more opportunities are in store for Millet Lovers / Farmers / Importers / Exporters /Millet Entrepreneurs / Aspiring new Entrepreneurs/ Foodpreneurs and Millet supporters.

Previous Roadshow @ Coimbatore proved that there is an excellent opportunity to create many women entrepreneurs in the food industry.  As these Roadshows are done in Educational Institutions/Colleges, this  also creates many student entrepreneurs. 

TanMillets Conclave -2023, our World Record Event is scheduled on 7^th& 8^th January at Nirmala College for Women, Coimbatore.

The key highlights of the event includes a World Record Attempt of showcasing 555 Millet Products under one roof applied under World Record Union from the USA.  2 days Millet Conference will throw light on Millet opportunities.  A team of experts helping in getting the Government Schemes & infrastructure supports.  The Food Show will be a memorable one. 

Overall, it is sure that the market for millets would expand with appropriate awareness campaigns targeting different segments.  It would also be important to introduce tasty, modern, and convenient products into markets that are more easily accessible.

Millets are often referred to as smart food, which is “good for the individual” (nutritious and healthy), “good for the planet” (environmentally sustainable), and “good for the farmer” (resilient).

A casual chat with users of millets with a question of why they use millets in their food consumption have some interesting feedback.  The largest group among early adopters of millets were for their health problems – in fact, it being the single largest reason for consuming millets, followed by those wanting to lose weight and those selecting millets for its taste.  There was a significant gap between people who were health conscious and those who were sure millets were healthy.

For non users of millets, or for people who did not eat more millets was that it was not eaten at home, followed by reactions such as not liking the taste.

The International Year of Millets, therefore, stands to provide a unique opportunity to increase global production, ensure efficient processing and consumption, promote a better utilization of crop rotations, and encourage better connectivity throughout food systems to promote millets as a key component of the food basket. The International Year will (i) elevate awareness of the contribution of millets for food security and nutrition (ii) inspire stakeholders on improving sustainable production and quality of millets; and (iii) draw focus for enhanced investment in research and development and extension services to achieve the other two aims.

In conclusion, three key actions are recommended to enhance the consumption of millets: developing delicious products to satisfy the taste, providing knowledge on nutritional and health facts on millets, and improving accessibility of millets in urban and global markets.  “Tanmillets” completes this full cycle 360 Degrees.

Lets Join them and celebrate The International Year of Millets as a proud Indian. 

 

RELEASE ID :  NNBSS 861033

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