 "postal millet stamp")
Conglomerate ITC on Tuesday in collaboration with the Department of Post released a special postal stamp to raise awareness on millets.
The stamp was released here by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Kailash Choudhary, in the presence of Chief Post Master General Sushri Manju Kumar and ITC Group Head - Agri-Business S Sivakumar.
The ITC Mission Millets postal stamp acknowledges the significant role of farmers and connects sustainable farming to nutritious food products and delicious millet-based recipes and dishes, a statement said.
During the event, Choudhary highlighted the actions taken by the government for the promotion of Shree Anna (millets). India is the largest producer of millets in the world.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has taken several initiatives such as the celebration of the International Year of Millets-2023, holding of G20 Agriculture Ministerial Meeting (AMM), designating ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad as Global Centre of Excellence on Millets (Shree Anna)
ITC's Sivakumar said: "Supporting the government's focus on mainstreaming millets, ITC has spearheaded a dedicated initiative called ITC Mission Millets which is powered by a 3-pillar strategy. This encompasses the development of a 'good-for-you' foods portfolio backed by innovation, implementation of sustainable farming systems with the creation of a robust millets agri value chain with special thrust on enhancing value-addition and market linkages."
Now the focus is also on enhancing consumer awareness of the benefits of millet, which is a nutritionally superior food option.
ITC has developed a range of millet-based products in traditional and modern formats, including ready-to-eat food products, cookies, noodles, vermicelli, choco sticks, snacks and staples such as Multi Millet Mix and Ragi Flour.
ITC Hotels has also crafted and included special millet-based cuisines in their buffets.
Earlier this year, ITC launched its Mission Millets initiative to bring millets to the mainstream.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
