BHUBANESWAR: Chief advisor to the Odisha government for institutional capacity building, Subroto Bagchi, on Wednesday advised the Odisha Millets Mission (OMM) team to prepare a long-term statement of strategic intent for the mission keeping 2030 and 2036 as target years.
Chairing a meeting of Odisha Millets Mission (OMM) at Krushi Bhawan here to discuss preparations of the two-day International Convention on Millets to be held on November 9 and 10 this year, Bagchi also advised to create flexibility in policies and guidelines so that suitable modifications may be done in due course of time to mitigate the challenges.
He said innovative methods such as agri-tourism focusing on joyous aspects attached with millets to ingrain the consumption pattern in the every household and engaging with eminent sports persons and other celebrities as millet brand ambassadors will be instrumental in successful implementation of millet mission in coming years.
The former chairman of Odisha Skill Development Authority further suggested tapping into the energy and enthusiasm of ground level YouTubers and grassroots organisations and millet ambassadors to popularise millets among larger sections of society. OMM should aim to present Odisha as a scalable model in India and abroad by institutionalizing these strategies.
The meeting was organised to get expert advice from Bagchi on various aspects and goals of Odisha Millets Mission and the upcoming international convention on millets. At the outset, principal secretary of Agriculture department Arabinda Kumar Padhee shared with Bagchi the different incentives and benefits offered to millet farmers and women self-help groups of Mission Shakti.
He said OMM has adopted the ‘fork to farm’ approach to truly ground the programme for long-term success creating adequate demand at the consumer level so that the farmers are encouraged to go for millet cropping instead of conventionally commercial cereals.It was decided to organise a lecture by Bagchi on Odisha Millets Mission and ICM on November 1.