NITI Aayog signs a Statement of Intent with United Nations World Food Program (WFP)

What is the news?

NITI Aayog has signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).

Why did NITI Aayog sign the SOI with WFP?

The Government of India (GoI) has observed 2018 as a year of millets to encourage and promote millet production. Leading this initiative further, GoI has supported the UN General Assembly resolution for declaring 2023 as International Year of Millets.

Moreover, numerous steps have been taken to promote millets including establishment of Center for Excellence, Integration of nutri-cereals in National Food Security Act and establishment of Millet Mission in multiple states. 

Despite this, various challenges in terms of production, distribution and adaptability among consumers remain.

Hence, this SOI aims to identify and address those challenges.

How will the partnership address the challenges?

The partnership focuses on:

– mainstreaming of millets and supporting India in taking lead globally in knowledge exchange using the opportunity of 2023 as an International Year of Millets. 

– Strategic and technical collaboration to strengthen the climate resilient agriculture for enhanced food and nutrition security in India.

What are the activities that will be undertaken under the partnership?

a) Joint development of a compendium of good practices around millets, b) Provide technical support to selected states for scaling up millets, c) Use India’s expertise to benefit other developing countries for millets mainstreaming and d) Build capacities for climate resilient and adaptive livelihood practices.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘NITI Aayog signs a Statement of Intent with United Nations World Food Program (WFP)’ published in Indian Express on 22^nd Dec 2021.