From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Mar 25: In wake of the upcoming 'National Trade Fair 2017- Organics and Millets’ to be hosted in Bengaluru from April 28-30 at Palace Grounds, the Department of Agriculture in association with the Jaivik Krishik Society is hosting a two day Organic and Millets Mela in the city.
The mela was inaugurated by Krishna Byre Gowda, Agriculture Minister. Malleswaram BJP MLA Dr C N Ashwath Narayan was the chief guest.
The Mela exhibited more than 150 farmers selling millets, vegetable seeds, grains, organic juices, plants, herbal products, organic manure and millet foods such as ragi cereal.
Kishna Byre Gowda highlighted the idea of the Mela was to facilitate farmers’ groups to network with consumers and market functionaries like retail outlets, processors and wholesalers, under one roof.
"We also want to create awareness and encourage people to increase their organic and millet intake on a daily basis,” he said.
“The upcoming National Organic and Millets fair happening on April 28-30 will focus on spreading consciousness among citizens on essential organic products,’’ he said.
Millets are the new top favourite among the health-conscious.
Visitors at the Mela showed keen interest in nutrient rich organic products like Ragi, Jowar, vegetables and most importantly – millets.
Foxtail millet, ragi, jowar and bajra are non-glutinous and easy to digest with high levels of iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium. Their cultivation is being encouraged as they require less water, grow well in dry zones and have short growing seasons.
Millet producers and farmers, at the event emphasized “Millet producers and farmers emphasized, ‘’Millets are an alternative for rice and wheat, and is increasingly gaining space in urban kitchens. Many visitors approached us to understand recipes that can be prepared with millets. They also enquired about the hidden health benefits of this high-fibre, antioxidant-rich, gluten free grain.”
The State Department of Agriculture has been created mainly to provide Agricultural Extension services to farmers and to transfer the latest technical knowledge to the farming community, introduction of high yielding varieties, laying demonstrations, imparting training to farmers to improve skills & knowledge to boost up the agricultural Production and productivity.
Keeping the importance of organic farming, to increase use of organic manure utilization for crop production, there is an urgent need to produce and supply organic manure to the farming community. It is planned to extend the organic village site programme to hobli level.
The objective of the scheme is to increase the agriculture production and productivity by adoption of Farm Mechanisation. The scheme is being implemented with five different components namely supply of Hi-tech Agriculture implements, and supply of newly designed agricultural implements.
The Jaivik Krishik Society (JKS), a federation of organic farmers and farmers' groups founded by the government of Karnataka to propagate organic farming, is all set to market organic products under the brand name of 'Jaivik' across the State.
The society has 120 members and 11 groups of farmers in the state engaged in the organic cultivation of food products. It is presently in the process of approaching national and international certification and accreditation agencies for marketing the organic food products in international markets, according to JKS President and Joint Director of Horticulture (Biocentre), K Ramakrishnappa.