International Food Festival in Delhi: The second edition of World Food India is to be organized by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in the first week of November 2023. The venue of the event to be held during November 3-5 is Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
A curtain raiser event was held here this week where Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Pashupati Kumar Paras, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel launched the website, promotional brochures and promotional videos. Minister Paras emphasized that India is one of the fastest growing economies with many investment opportunities, especially in the food processing sector.
He outlined the five key elements of WFI-2023 as Millets- ‘Shri Anna-The Super Food of India’, Innovation and Sustainability ‘Green Food’, and White Revolution 2.0, to make India an export hub and technology and focus on digitization. He said that during the three-day event, the government expects leading players in the food processing sector from across the world to showcase their strengths.
Minister Patel said that with the experience of the previous edition in 2017, the government is looking at WFI-2023 as a major global event. He said that various government initiatives including PLI schemes are enhancing marketing and branding in the food processing industry and the government is proud of the standardization of quality standards.
Notably, the International Year of Millets 2023 officially started on January 1, 2023, and most of the focus in WFI 2023 will be on millets. The Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution. To declare the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets and India’s proposal was supported by 72 countries. The UNGA declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets in March 2021.
India is a global leader in millet production with an area of about 12.5 million hectares and a share of more than 15 percent of the world’s total production. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are the major millet producing states.
What are millets? Millet is a general term to classify small-seeded grasses that are often referred to as nutri-cereals. Some of them are Jowar (Jwar), Bajra (Bajra), Ragi (Ragi), Small Millet (Kutki), Foxtail Millet (Kakun), Proso Millet (Chenna), Barnyard Millet (Sava), and Kodo Millet (Kodon) .
Millets are now being promoted as a ‘super food’. Most importantly, the production of Bajra is not dependent on the use of chemical fertilizers.