FM dials ITC, asks to buy millets from Karnataka’s drought-hit farmers
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri to draft a team from his company to Karnataka and facilitate procuring Sri Anna millets from drought-hit farmers.
Her intervention with ITC followed a meeting Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy had with her in Delhi on Thursday.
She has asked Puri to also consider other measures that can help the state's farmers, the FM said in a post on social media platform X.
Sitharaman added that she had explained the initiatives the Centre was taking on the subject during her discussion with the ministers.
Karnataka has declared 224 out of its 236 taluks as drought hit.
Commenting on Sitharaman speaking to the ITC Chairman, Gowda told ET that the government procurement was the only way to protect and encourage farmers for major millets like ragi, jowar and bajra (pearl millet).
Demand pull from the private sector could help with other minor millets.
With the year 2023 declared as the International Year of Millets by the UN, ITC is also pursuing Mission Millets to bring millets into the mainstream by aiming to educate consumers and empower farmers.
The Centre has also been providing millets/coarse grains (Sri Anna) to states at a subsidized price of Re 1 per kg for preparation of supplementary food under the wheat-based nutrition programme (WBNP) and providing them to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children below six years of age.
