Small grains may prove to a big game-changer in Bastar. TheBhupesh Baghelgovernment has included all seven districts of the Maoist-hit Bastar division in its ‘Millet Mission’ launched.
Chhattisgarhis the first state to give input assistance for millet. It has fixed support price for kodo-kutki at Rs 3,000 per quintal. The government signed an MoU with the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR) for technical knowhow and to train farmers to turn Chhattisgarh into a ‘millethub’. “Like minor forest produce, we want to make small grain crops also the strength of Chhattisgarh. It will give a new identity to the state,” CM Baghel saidat the signing of the MoU.
Kodo-kutki, ragi are grown in 20 districts of Chhattisgarh. In the first phase, MoUs were signed with 14 of them — Bastar division’s Kanker, Kondagaon, Bastar, Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma, and Narayanpur, plus Rajnandgaon, Kawardha, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, Balrampur, Koriya, Surajpur and Jashpur.