UN Women announced the theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021 (IWD 2021) as, “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” The theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Corona Pandemic had severally affected the economy of the entire world and so is the life and livelihood. Eventhough the countrywide lockdown struck at the time of last Rabi harvest, still the sweat of millions of farmers paid the worth.
The farming communities were gazing at the annual union budget with high hopes but budget number showed that it was not as sweet as expected, but sour as claimed by Partik Kumar and Mohit Rangi. Odisha has introduced an initiative to empanel Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) as Ragi Procurement agencies under the Odisha Millets Mission. The initiative has been undertaken on pilot basis with 16 FPOs from7 districts being promoted under the Mission writes Shubham Sharma, Aashima Choudhury and Dinesh Balam.
Dwiji Guru in his article on Community Oriented SMALL MILLET Processing explains the shift towards community focused initiatives in Millets. He also empasises on the comeback of Millets in farmers’ fields as well as on peoples’plates. The search for a healthier alternative has motivated many to rediscover the various millet rices of foxtail, little, barnyard, kodo and Browntop millet says Dwiji Guru.
Anitha Reddy writes in details about Browntop millet ,one of the rarest among millets and a boon to barren lands. Being native to India, it grows well in the dryland tracts of Karnataka and Andhra says Anitha. Pratap Mukhopadhyay in his Article Smarts Aquaculture emphasizes on the relevance of sustainable aquaculture development in increasing farm income at the same time planning to respond to the challenges concerning nutrition, health, and environment.
