Budget 2023: Centre to support Hyderabad-based millet institute as centre of excellence

“We grow several types of Shree Anna, such as Jowar, Ragi, Bajra, Ramdana, Cheena, and Saama…These have a number of health benefits and have been an integral part of our food for centuries.

Hyderabad: India is at the forefront of popularising millet, whose consumption improves the well-being of farmers and food security, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, during the presentation of the Union Budget 2023, on February 1.

“We grow several types of Shree Anna, such as Jowar, Ragi, Bajra, Ramdana, Cheena, and Saama…These have a number of health benefits and have been an integral part of our food for centuries.

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“Now, to make India a global hub for Shree Anna Research, the Indian Institute of Millets Research in Hyderabad will be made into a centre of excellence,” she said.

India is the largest producer and second largest exporter of Millets, she added.

Everything about Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR)

The Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) formerly the Directorate of Sorghum Research (DSR) and National Research Centre for Sorghum (NRCS), is the central agency to work on all aspects of millet/sorghum research and development under the auspicious of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Located at Rajendranagar in the city, the institute is engaged in basic and strategic research on sorghum and other millets. It conducts agricultural research on millet breeding, improvement, pathology, and value addition.

IIMR coordinates and facilitates sorghum research at the national level through the All India Coordinated Research Projects on Sorghum (AICRP on Sorghum) and provides linkages with various national and international agencies.

It was founded in 1958 first established under the Project on Intensified Research on Cotton, Oilseeds, and Millets (PIRCOM) and was engaged in research on important dryland crops such as sorghum, castor, groundnut, pigeon-pea, and cotton as well as sorghum-based cropping systems.

The institute paved the way for agricultural research in India during that time. The institute has been upgraded to ICAR 2014.