Context: Recently, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Tribal Affairs inaugurated the ASEAN-India Millet Festival in New Delhi.

ASEAN-India Millet Festival 

• The ASEAN-India Millets Festival showcases a broad spectrum of participants, encompassing Indian farmers, industrialists, and representatives from ASEAN member states.
• This festival is an outcome of the successful collaboration under the comprehensive strategic partnership between ASEAN and India, which was underscored during the ASEAN-India Summit.
• The inception of this initiative can be traced back to a joint statement on food security endorsed during the ASEAN-India Summit, emphasizing the pivotal role of millets in ensuring food security.

Millets

• About: They are collective group of small seeded annual grasses that are grown as grain crops, primarily on marginal land in dry areas of temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions.
• Includes: Sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), barnyard, foxtail, brown top and other varieties.
• Also known as: Supergrain, poor man’s food grain.
• Largest Producer: India is the largest producer of millets with 37.5% of the total global output followed by Sudan and Nigeria.
• Good Source of: Protein, fibre, and essential vitamins, as well as minerals.
• Advantages of Millets: Food and economic security, high nutrition, low glycemis index, climate resistant, doubling farmers' income. Etc.