As many as 500 participants from across the world, including around 200 faculty and students from the country, participated in a two-day national conference on millets organised by the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.
The conference that was inaugurated on Thursday is being held in the College of Food and Dairy Technology, Koduvalli. India is the largest producer of millets followed by Niger and China, said K.N. Selvakumar, University Vice-Chancellor. Millets are cultivated in over 120 countries currently and for over half a billion people across Asia and Africa they are the traditional food. The World Food Programme estimates that 1.2 billion people across the world consume millets as part of their diet.
Though rural Indians had traditionally grown and consumed them, their health benefits gained popularity in the recent years, he said.
While the Indian government was promoting millet production as part of its National Food Security Mission, the United Nations had also declared 2023 as the International Year of Millet. The Vice-Chancellor said TANUVAS had a patent for millet ice cream. Though millets were extensively used in animal feed, science and technology could explore much more in the field of millets, he added.
N. Kumaravelu, Dean, urged the participants to create a strategy to effectively promote millet-based food products through the college. Director of Thanjavur-based National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management V. Palanimuthu spoke on millet processing, adding that the small millet with its high micro-nutrient content is the vehicle to mitigate the hidden hunger, which is micronutrient deficiency.
On the occasion, the dignitaries released a compendium comprising 40 research papers and 86 abstracts for posters. The southern region of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India will organise a walkathon and millet cuisine contest in the college on Friday.
