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Friday / April 19. 2024

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HomePosts Tagged "MoA&FW"
AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, Sustainability

MEC offers a unique dining experience, besides an in-store shopping experience

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, along with Rajbir Singh, Managing Director, NAFED, commemorated the launch of the first-of-its-kind ‘Millets Experience Centre (MEC)’ at Dilli Haat, INA, New Delhi. NAFED in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) established the Millets Experience Centre with an aim to raise awareness of Millets and encourage its adoption among the general public.

Acting upon India’s proposal supported by 72 countries, the United Nations General Assembly declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM 2023). The declaration positioned India at the forefront of the celebrations and the Government of India has been working on ‘mission mode’ to champion millets as a crop good for farmers, the environment and consumers. The ministry-led initiative of establishing a consumer-oriented ‘Millets Experience Centre’ would not only promote the dietary benefits of the ancient grain but also popularise millets or Shree Anna as a nutritional powerhouse fit for cooking a variety of dishes like Millets dosa, Millets pasta etc. In addition to a unique dining experience, customers can also purchase a variety of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products from local millet start-ups at the MEC.

In his inaugural address, Tomar praised India’s dynamic celebration of IYM 2023, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Highlighting the visionary efforts of the Prime Minister, starting from the declaration of the National Year of Millets in 2018 and further with the International Year of Millets (IYM), Tomar said India is gearing towards becoming a ‘Global Hub’ for Millets. The setting up of the MEC is a step in that direction, he added. Situated in the heart of Delhi, Dilli Haat is a national & cultural hub for visitors from all around the world, the MEC will further help the global outreach of the local millets and provide visitors with a chance to witness India’s ‘Millet Movement’, he said.

MEC offers a unique dining experience, besides

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Horticulture, India, IT, Live Stock, Start ups

It aims to deliver curated content to farmers on time and upskill the vast network of extension workers for agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, livestock and rural livelihood missions through certified online courses.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi with Digital Green under public private partnership framework to build a national level digital extension platform. The platform will host a digital library of curated multi-format multi-lingual content, help extension workers access and deliver curated content to farmers on time and upskill the vast network of extension workers for agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, livestock and rural livelihood missions through certified online courses.

The MOU is with Digital Green, an award winning social enterprise that is leveraging the power of technology to support small and marginal farmers to enhance their productivity and income, strengthen their agency and build community level resilience. Founded by Rikin Gandhi, a technocrat and social development enthusiast, Digital Green has been working with governments in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, serving over 25 lakhs farmers and having enhanced the capacities of over 4000 front like workers.

Speaking on the occasion, Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, MoA&FW, GoI said that “The proposed national digital platform will help make our extension system more efficient and effective by connecting farmers to the strong foundation of digital agriculture ecosystem that is being built by the government. Digital capacity of this extension system is crucial to help farmers reap the benefits of digital agriculture and will serve as one of the component of digital public infrastructure for Agriculture announced recently in the Union Budget “.

There are over 200,000 extension workers in India in agriculture, livelihood and allied sectors. This ambitious initiative will converge the outreach efforts of departments of agriculture, horticulture, livestock, dairy, fisheries and rural livelihoods under a single digital platform through a decentralised content creation and targeted dissemination. To be launched within six months, the platform will have the portal and capabilities to serve the entire farming community in India and catalyse Agtech and other market actors with newer and higher value proposition.

According to Rikin Gandhi, technology has no value unless it makes a positive difference to the last mile farmer. Thanking the GoI for investing in technology to make Indian farm system future ready, he said that “we are honoured and proud to be partnering with Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and be a key stakeholder in making our small and marginal farmers thrive and proposer. He further added that the envisaged platform will contribute to and complement the national systems to emerge as a digital public good for the farm sector in India.’’

It aims to deliver curated content