Bhubaneswar: A meeting on the preparation and review of millet distribution and procurement related to the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment of the Government of Odisha under the Shree Anna Abhiyan was held under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee.
In this meeting, the Managing Director, Odisha State Supply Corporation, Sudarshan Chakravarthy and the Director, Agriculture and Food Production, Shubham Saxena were present along with other senior officers of the Food Corporation of India, Odisha Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation Limited, and the Agriculture Department.
In this meeting, various steps were taken to facilitate this year’s millet procurement program and the approach of including maximum farmers in it was discussed. The District Collectors have been instructed to be vigilant so that unscrupulous traders do not take advantage of this assistance.
The meeting also emphasised on the distribution of the procured millet through various State Government schemes and supply to the Central Reserve of the Central Government through the Food Corporation of India.
It is worth noting that 7,58,000 quintals of millet were procured last year and for the first time, more than one lakh quintals of millet have been exported to the State of Andhra Pradesh and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar.
The State Government is committed to promoting grains like millet in the face of climate change, said Secretary Dr. Padhee
