Bhubaneswar: The Niti Aayog in its report on Take Home Ration Good Practices across the State/UTs has praised the Keonjhar model for promoting the use of millets in daily diet.
In Keonjhar, Ragi Ladoo was introduced as morning snacks for preschool children (3-6 yrs) covered under ICDS in July 2020, during the peak of the pandemic. With this historic step, Keonjhar became the first district in the state to include millets under ICDS.
As the COVID protocols are currently in place, pre-cooked ragi laddu mix is provided via home delivery. The initiative has provided an additional source of income to women’s SHGs, an assured price to farmers for Ragi, and a boost to local production of Ragi and other millets.
The Niti Aayog termed it as a unique model in the country with decentralized production, procurement, processing, supply, and consumption of millets. Taking into account, the successful implementation of the programme, it proposed to scale up the programme in the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) districts in the state.
