Role of millets in achieving sustainable development goals (SDG), environment & health issues

Author: 
Kirti Sharma, Anil Kanaujia, Vivek Kumar, Mohan Ji Saxena and Anup Kalra

National Food security can be ensured by strengthening the agricultural sector with improved farm practices, increased production yields, and better access to market opportunities as it plays a vital role in economic development, poverty alleviation, and the population’s security by supplying nutritional sustenance and improving the livelihoods of vulnerable people in India. In 2015, WHO stressed on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, to address global challenges like hunger, poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, justice, etc. Violent conflict between Russia & Ukraine is another major cause of acute food crises worldwide. As both countries are major wheat exporters, this will aggravate the already precarious food security situation in many developing countries by disrupting wheat production. Maximizing the production of traditional agricultural produce has various limitations. Therefore, this is a challenge to transform the food system into a sustainable strategy which necessitates the propagation of crops like Millets which is climate resilient and less requiring of water, pest control, and chemical fertilizers.

Paper No: 
4653