Hyderabad, May 23 (IANS) A Global Centre of Excellence on Millets will come up at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) in Hyderabad, it was announced on Friday.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs. 250 crore to establish for the purpose, Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy said.

Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan has written to Kishan Reddy that the Central government has sanctioned the funds to establish the Global Centre of Excellence.

According to Kishan Reddy, this initiative is a part of PM Shree Anna Yojana (Millets) that encourages the production and consumption of millets to achieve food and nutritional security for a healthy India.

“The new Global Centre of Excellence will enhance the ongoing research efforts at IIMR by establishing world-class facilities including research laboratories, skill development centres and outreach hubs. High-quality seeds will be provided, especially to farmers in Telangana to boost millet cultivation. The Centre will also offer regular training for farmers, support for value-added product marketing and encourage start-ups in this sector,” Kishan Reddy posted on ‘X’.

Kishan Reddy, who is also the state BJP President, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan on behalf of the people of Telangana. He said that this initiative will be of immense benefit to the state’s farmers.

Agriculture Minister Chouhan, in his letter, mentioned the major objectives of the Centre of Excellence. These include establishing global germplasm medium-term storage facility to strengthen millets gene bank for conservation, trait-specific characterisation, and utilisation of millet biodiversity for crop improvement. This will be a global technology innovation centre for trait, seed and crop improvement of millets for enhancing yield and productivity.

The Centre of Excellence will serve as a nutri-cereal analytical, food safety and quality assurance national laboratory for millets and also as a global centre of excellence for the millet value chain for entrepreneurship, incubation and start-up nurturing.

–IANS

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