THE Indian High Commissioner, Dr. K.J. Srinivasa, on Friday, handed over millet seeds to the Ministry of Agriculture to commence trials for the cultivation of millets in Guyana.
At the simple handing over ceremony, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, said that Guyana has the conditions to cultivate millets, noting the country’s climate and fertile land.
He also related that millet cultivation is a great crop to produce, considering Guyana’s goal to achieve food security and reduce the country’s food import bill by 2025.

Given this, Minister Mustapha said that it was an appropriate time to begin millet crop cultivation in the Caribbean region, in Guyana.
Additionally, the Agriculture Minister noted that, during the Indian High Commissioner’s tenure, they have had several projects ongoing. Just recently, he related they spoke of a number of issues needed to be followed up within the Agriculture sector.

Some of these include specialists from India coming to Guyana, the starting of the tissue culture laboratory, production of planting material, focus on the rice sector, hemp production, and several other areas.
Agro-processing is something they have been looking into, he pointed out. They recently applied for a grant and will receive assistance from the Indian government to help Guyana.
Minister Mustapha said that all of these plans have moved forward.

Further, Dr. Srinivasa said that this was his last official act in the country and he was delighted for it to be the handing over of the millet seeds.
“This is something that was very dear to our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. We are working very assiduously to spread the cultivation of millets because it is a very low cost crop that we grow in India,” he explained.

The High Commissioner noted that millet, aside from its low cost, has many health benefits as it is highly nutritious, good for persons with diabetes, good for people with illnesses and contains lots of protein.
“I have grown up eating it back home in India, so it gives me great pleasure to hand over this,” he related.

In March 2023, Guyanese authorities, recognising that India was a powerhouse in millet production, were looking to leverage expertise from the Asian nation to advance Guyana’s food security efforts.
During a virtual address at the two-day Global Millet Conference in New Delhi, India, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, highlighted that India is the largest millet producer globally and is also assuming global leadership in advancing the objective of addressing one of the world’s most foremost challenges which is food security.

Based on India’s proposal, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared the year 2023 the International Year of Millets (IYM).
“The declaration of this international year is linked to the recognition that hunger and food insecurity are potent threats to the attainment of the sustainable development goals,” Dr. Ali said.
He added that the production of millet has the potential to be a game changer in ensuring greater food security across the world.
Millets are a group of cereal grains that belong to the Poaceae family, commonly known as the grass family. The grains are usually grounded into flour to make various foods. While it may look like a seed, the millet’s nutritional profile is similar to that of sorghum and other cereals.

Its high nutritional properties and resilience in adapting to hot and dry climatic conditions provide an affordable and nutritious option to addressing food insecurity, the Guyanese Head-of-State emphasised.
“Guyana has identified the production of millets as having great potential towards enhancing national and regional food security. As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) implements vision 25 by 2025 to reduce the food import bill by approximately $US1 billion by 2025, millet is an ideal solution to increase self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imported cereal grains,” he said.
The Government of Guyana has already set aside some 200 acres of land for exclusive millet production.
Trials will be conducted in Regions Four, Nine and 10 before large scale production begins.