Bastar dists at core of Chhattisgarh’s ‘Millet Mission’

RAIPUR: Small grains may prove to a big game-changer in Bastar. The Bhupesh Baghel government has included all seven districts of the Maoist-hit Bastar division in its ‘Millet Mission’ launched on Friday.
The state is even offering incentives to paddy farmers to switch to millet. “We will invest Rs 170 crore over the next five years in Millet Mission.Farmers growing kodo-kutki and ragi crops will be given an input assistance of Rs 9,000 per acre and those choosing these crops instead of paddy will get Rs 10,000 per acre,” the CM said.
Chhattisgarh is the first state to give input assistance for millet. It has fixed support price for kodo-kutki at Rs 3,000 per quintal. The government signed an MoU with the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR) for technical knowhow and to train farmers to turn Chhattisgarh into a ‘millet hub’. “Like minor forest produce, we want to make small grain crops also the strength of Chhattisgarh. It will give a new identity to the state,” CM Baghel saidat the signing of the MoU.Kodo-kutki, ragi are grown in 20 districts of Chhattisgarh. In the first phase, MoUs were signed with 14 of them -- Bastar division’s Kanker, Kondagaon, Bastar, Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma, and Narayanpur, plus Rajnandgaon, Kawardha, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, Balrampur, Koriya, Surajpur and Jashpur.
IIMR director Dr. Vilas A Tonapi said: “The year 2023 will be celebrated as International Year of Millet and Chhattisgarh’s Millet Mission will have made a mark in the country by then.”