Swaminathan Research Foundation, which was set up on August 7, 1988, various experts from the field of agriculture and food security on Monday highlighted the need to eradicate hunger in India. “The need of the hour is to improve our culinary diversity to include millets and other highly nutritious food in our diet,” he said, adding that under-nutrition in India could be addressed by implementing the provisions of the Right to Food law (National Food Security Act, 2013). Climate resilientGiven the challenge of climate change affecting agricultural prospects, Mr. Byregowda said nutritional millets could help resolve the hunger challenge and prove to be climate resilient as well. Therefore, food crops that have been responsible for creating this ecological imbalance should be replaced with crops such as millets that require less water to grow,” he said. He also criticised scientists for calling millets as “coarse cereals” as it conveyed a dismissive attitude towards these food crops, though that may not have been the intention.

Source: The Hindu August 07, 2017 19:07 UTC