Society for Millets Research

(Reg.No.395/2004 under Andhra Pradesh Society’s Registration Act, 2001 (Act) No.35 of 2001)

Application for enrolment

Millets as a group of crops are represented by sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), and minor millets like banyard millet, proso millet, kodo millet and foxtail millet. Being excellent source of essential nutrients to the millions of rural poor in India, they are also called as ‘nutritious cereals’. Millets are the staple food for the world’s poorest and most food insecure people across the semi-arid tropics. The crop improvement programmes on Millets and Directorate of Sorghum Research , under the umbrella of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and other institutions in both public and private sector are working to improve livelihood of dryland farmers through improvement of millet productivity.

The “Society for Millets Research” (SMR) has therefore been formed to provide a common platform to all the individuals engaged in research and development efforts on Millets. This society has been formed to create a meaningful mandate of actions and groups (both regional, national and international diasporas) to enhance global competitiveness of millets through efficient and environmental friendly production technologies, value-addition and marketing as a significant food, feed, fodder, fuel and bioenergy crops to ensure nutritional security, environmental quality and economic prosperity of resource-poor dryland farmers of India. The primary goal is to develop a society that can grow to serve the cause of millets through partnership with the industry and other interested stakeholders to promote millets utilization The major goals of the “Society for Millets Research” are listed below:

GOALS

To promote research and development on millets and millet based cropping systems.

• To promote industrial utilization of millets to enhance economic threshold levels of rural livelihoods in the semi arid tropics.
• To disseminate knowledge on millets through lectures, seminars, symposia, publications and exchange programmes

OBJECTIVES

• Improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of millets production systems.
• Improvement of nutritional and food quality of millets and promotion of millets as health-food, and industrial raw material.
• Incorporation of durable resistances to various pests, diseases and parasites and promote integrated management of pests including post harvest technology.
• Promoting industrial uses of millet grain and stalks, including millets as principal source of biomass and bio-energy.
• Creating avenues to enhance export of millets and to create a viable researcher-industry interface for over all promotion of millets as industrial crops.

ACTIVITIES

The activities of the society will consist of organizing seminars and symposia in frontier areas on millets and publication of Journals, Bulletins, Reports, Newsletters and Sponsored Monographs