A one-day district level awareness program cum celebration of International Year of Millet was organized by Department of Agriculture, Tuensang with the theme “Harnessing Millet for Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture” on Wednesday at Town Hall, Tuensang.

Deputy Commissioner Tuensang Lithrongla Tongpi Rutsa, NCS inaugurated the exhibition stalls. In her address, Rutsa, quoting the example of the “Millet queen of India” Lahiri Bai who have preserved over 150 varieties of millets in her home encouraged the gathering to preserve the millet grain and cultivate those which are preferable for the type of soil in the region.

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She also applauded the officers and staffs of Department of Agriculture, Tuensang for their tireless, sincerity, hard work for the farmers of Tuensang district as well as conducting various awareness programmes and exhorted that the farmers should try to benefit from it.

While she also cautioned that, “If someday there is a change in the policy to stop giving free and subsidized rice then there is a possibility of a famine and this thought makes it very important to preserve and cultivate more millet grains.”

Stating that it is a “rich man’s food” as it is not available readily and plenty in the market Rutsa expressed that, “In terms of millet grain, Eastern Nagaland region have plenty and are rich in it.”

In the attendance were village council members, SHG members and other dignitaries.

Earlier, in the keynote address, T Supongmar Longchar, District Agriculture Officer, Tuensang stated that, “This is a revival for millet in Tuensang. A history in the making for Nagaland which starts from Tuensang.”

He also expressed in awe at the creativity and preservation of the millet and said that it is like a lost gold found.

A power point presentation highlighting the millet cultivation in Tuensang was given by Mongkucholen, Agriculture Officer, Tuensang.

He displayed points on the benefits of millet production, cultivation practices of millet in Tuensang district, present status of millet cultivation showed that 10 villages in Tuensang and seven villages in Longkhim were practicing millet cultivation.

He also highlighted several activities that were taken by their department which included awareness programmes and seed distribution etc.

A competition on millet recipe, and maximum millet production – individual and village category was also held at the event where Chingmei village received a certificate, cash prize and one millet processing machine for harvesting more than 13 thousand tins of millet in the maximum millet production under village category.

In the millet recipe competition, 1st prize was bagged by Chipensenyen SHG of Tuensang town, with Moutshou SHG of Chendang village and Khanyang Sao of Chingmelen village winning 2nd and 3rd respectively. Consolation prizes were also awarded to Millet Sisters of Chingmei village and Ophai Doyang SHG of Kejok village.

In the maximum millet production under individual category, Sejang of Chingmei village (57 tins) won the 1st prize followed by M Khumla of Chendang village (41 tins) and B Nokching of Waoshu village (32 tins) winning 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Earlier, the program was chaired by Wongtochingmak, SDAO Tuensang and the vote of thanks was delivered by Akila Rothrong, SDAO Longkhim followed by farmers scientist interaction.