Bhubaneswar: As Odisha is celebrating the first-ever “Mandia Dibasa” or “Millet Divas”, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today urged all to popularise Millet as a nutritious, biodiverse and climate-resilient Super Food.
On the occasion of Mandia Dibasa today, the Odisha CM said, “Prosperity is associated with nutrition. Odisha government is celebrating this day as Mandia Dibasa and it has been decided to celebrate the 10th of November every year as “Millet Divas”.
“Mandia is a treasure of nutrition and it provides nourishment to all age groups starting from small children to the elderly,” he said.
In Odisha, small farmers, poor tribal farmers cultivate mandia. In order to improve the condition and providing nutrition to the people, Odisha Millet Mission was launched and Rs 2,800 Cr will be spent for this in five years,” said the Chief Minister.
“Odisha Millet Mission has successful caught the attention of the whole world and even the United Nations has also praised the program,” said Naveen adding, that it has become a model for other states.
Further, the Odisha CM announced that the state government has decided to implement the Millet Mission in all the districts of the state. “Now 2 lakh farmers, 82 FPOs and 1200 Mission Shakti groups have joined this Mission. More farmers and Mission Shakti Groups will soon be included in this program, the Odisha CM said added urged all to popularise Mandia as Super Food.
