The Ananta Aadarana Millet Farmer Producer Organisation, which represented Andhra Pradesh at the Dubai Expo-2020 from February 17 to 19, has received enquiries from prospective buyers from outside the country.
M. Ramakrishna and G. Gangireddy, who had represented the FPO at the expo, held talks with several businessmen after giving a five-minute audio-visual presentation about the organisation and methods adopted for growing nine varieties of millets in Anantapur district by a 500-member FPO.
“Ananta Aadarana Millet FPO not only showcased the millets at the expo but also registered the importance and historical background of millets in Anantapur and its relevance for future in addressing climate change as well as livelihood opportunities,” said Mr. Ramakrishna.
They could attract a lot of visitors to the stall, apart from a few VIPs such as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoAFW) Abhilash Likhi, Additional Secretary B. Rajendra, who is also Chairman, Food Committee, FAO, and Subha Thakur, who is Joint Secretary (Crops).
The Chairman of FICCI also showed interest in the nine varieties of millets, millet rice and its value-added products in the stall provided at a vantage point in the expo, they added.
Dubai-based entrepreneurs both from India and Dubai held talks for market linkages starting from raw millets to value-added products.
“Since we carried samples of all the items they were happy with the quality of our products. We need to continue our interaction separately through email and be able to quote the right price,” Mr. Gangireddy added.
A few of them are also likely to visit India as their field staff keep visiting different locations especially near Bengaluru.
The FICCI also facilitated B2B and one-to-one interactions with a few Dubai-based entrepreneurs.
The millet and food festival was inaugurated on February 17 and was part of the UN International Year of Millets-2023.
