Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) organises closing ceremony of the International Year of Millets

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The event highlighted the importance of millets in achieving sustainable development goals and its emergence as a ‘Global Superfood’.
- India had proposed to the United Nations to declare the year 2023 as IYM.

About Millets
- Indian millets are a group of nutritiously rich, drought tolerant and mostly grown in the arid and semi-arid regions of India
- Also known as "coarse cereals" or "cereals of the poor" and are nutritionally superior to wheat and rice
- India is the largest producer of millet, followed by Niger and China.

Significance
- Highly adaptive to a wide range of ecological conditions
- Millets have low Glycemic Index (GI) thus helpful in the prevention of diabetes
- Good sources of minerals like iron, zinc, and calcium and are gluten-free
- Reduces the carbon footprint

India's initiatives to promote millets
- The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has implemented the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for the Food Processing Industry for Millet-based products (PLISMBP) during 2022-23 to 2026-27 with an outlay of Rs. 800 crores.
- Millets are included under the Poshan Abhiyan of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
- An Export Promotion Forum dedicated to promotion in the international market has been set up.

Genesis: Established in 1945
It is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
Members: 195 members - 194 countries (Including India) and the European Union
Reports released by FAO
- The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security
- State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) Report 2023