Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday directed the Chief Secretary to prepare a plan to include millets in mid-day meals to combat malnutrition in children.
The instruction was given considering the role millets (Kodo, Kutki, Ragi) play in controlling malnutrition, an official communiqué said.
The Chief Minister also sought a plan to promote millet-based industries.
Saying that Chhattisgarh is the only state that has fixed minimum support price for the three millets, Baghel said the area under cultivation of millets in the state has zoomed from 69,000 hectares to 1.88 lakh hectares.
Under the Chhattisgarh Millet Mission, a target has been set to double the productivity.
Chhattisgarh was awarded as the best-emerging state for the promotion of millets in the ‘Poshak Anaj Award-2022’ organized by the Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, and Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The Millet Mission is operational in 14 districts of the state.