When leaders of the G20 countries engage in intense negotiations during the summit meeting here next week, their spouses will have the opportunity to witness India’s progress in research and development in the agriculture sector through field visits and attend live cooking sessions of millet-based dishes by renowned chefs.
As part of the G20 summit leader spouse programme on September 9th organised by department of agriculture and farmers welfare, Indian Council for Agricultural Research and ministry of external affairs, spouses of world leaders will get to see India’s technological advancement over the decades at Pusa campus of country’s premier Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) besides savour millets based dishes specially curated for the occasion.
India’s achievements in the agriculture sector especially Green Revolution and the country emerging as one of the biggest producers of rice, wheat, pulses and horticultural crops will also be showcased at the sprawling IARI Pusa campus, according to an official organising the event,
Chefs—Kunal Kapur, Ajay Chopra, and Anahita Dhondy will be joined by culinary experts from ITC group—Kusha Mathur and Nikita Mehra to conducts live cooking session of ‘full course meal’ with focus on millets based dishes from G20 countries.
Raw Banana Barnyard millet Tikki with puffed Amaranth, Jowar-Mushroom Khichda and the multi-course millet medley with millet Thekua and a Lemon Shrikhand mille-feuille dessert will be served to first ladies and spouses of G20 leaders.
Some of the dishes to be displayed include millet Brioche Bun with Gelato (Italy), Barnyard millet Nasi Goreng (Indonesia) and Ragi Mysore Masala Dosa (India).
The spouses will also visit the field research centre in IARI campus where millet crops including jowar, ragi, bajra and fox millets are at the flowering stage.
They will interact with women farmers from key millet producing states — Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Assam.
“Its an unique opportunity to showcase diversity of climate resilient, nutritionally rich Indian millets to our distinguished guest,” Ashok Kumar Singh, Director, IARI told FE. Besides, 18 startups associated with the agriculture sector will also showcase their work to the visitors. Two exquisite millets based rangolis on the theme of ‘harmony of harvest’ and ‘unity in sustenance’ will depict India’s integrated farming systems and its role in bolstering global food and nutritional security.
New Delhi will host the prestigious G20 summit from September 8-10, showcasing India’s rich culture and cuisine to world leaders and their spouses.
The spouses of G20 leaders will also embark on guided tours of Delhi’s renowned landmarks, and special shopping arrangements have been made. In 2018, millets also referred as Shree Anna were named as ‘nutri-cereals’ and the government declared it the national year of millets with the objective of generating more production and consumption.
The United Nation General Assembly is celebrating 2023 as the International Year of Millet. India is one of the leading producers of millets in the world with an estimated share of 41% in the global production. Millets are primarily grown during the kharif season in rainfed areas as these crops are less water and need much less agricultural inputs than rice and wheat.
Millets grown in country include sorghum (Jowar), pearl millet (Bajra), finger millet (Ragi), little millet (Kutki), foxtail millet (Kakun), proso millet (Cheena), barnyard millet (Sawa), kodo millet (Kodon) and other millets.
