Hyderabad: Two-day conference on Sri Anna begins in city

♦ A brainstorming session was held on “Enhancing Area, Production and Productivity of Millets in the Changing Scenario of Demand”

Hyderabad: Experts from across agricultural universities, government departments and Indian Council for Agriculture Research have come together to deliberate on Sri Anna (millets) at a two-day conference kickstarted in the city on Monday. The conference is jointly organised by the Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad, and Professor Jayasankar Telangana Agricultural University (PJTSAU). The combined 58th Annual group meeting (AGM) of AICRP (All-India Coordinated Research Project) on Pearl millet, 53rd AGM of Sorghum and 34th AGM of Small Millets commenced at ICAR- Indian Institute of Rice Research, in offline and online modes.

A brainstorming session was held on “Enhancing Area, Production and Productivity of Millets in the Changing Scenario of Demand”. It was chaired by Dr S K Pradhan, ADG (FFC), ICAR and co-chaired by Dr OP Yadav, PAMC & Director, ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur, Dr P Raghurami Reddy, Director of Research, PJTSAU, Hyderabad.

A total of 32 speakers, comprising specialists, various stakeholders and policy experts presented their views on the present scenario of millets, current product profiles and target production of millets and their alternate uses.

The session deliberated on the reasons for decline in millet area and production and analyzed the opportunities for expanding the area. It ended with experts summing up the deliberations which would help in making a road map to increase the area of cultivation, production and productivity of millets on a sustainable basis.

The PAMC reviewed the progress of experiments undertaken in various disciplines like crop improvement, production, protection, front-line demonstrations, breeder seed production, millets genetic resource management during 2022-23.The technical programmes for 2023-24, were presented by the respective principal investigators of pearl millet, sorghum and small millets.

A Varietal Identification Committee meeting of millets was held wherein the release proposals for the identification of new varieties were considered during the discussions. Dr C. Tara Satyavathi, Director, ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad, welcomed the participants and moderated the session.