The international conference, as well as the Russian-Indian catering festival dedicated to the International Year of Millet (IYP-2023) in Russia, will be held during the XXVIII International Specialized Trade and Industrial Exhibition “MVC: Compound Feed Grain Veterinary Medicine-2023” in Moscow at the VDNKh site . This was announced by members of the Organizing Committee for the IHP-2023 in Russia at a press conference held at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry on March 2, 2023.
According to S. G. Mitin, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council on Agrarian Food Policy and Environmental Management, Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the International Year of Millet in Russia, “Holding IHP-2023 in Russia will further strengthen Russia’s status as a leading world agrarian power, and will also make a significant contribution to improving the level of food security of the country. Due to global climate change, which poses a threat to the cultivation of a number of crops, the cultivation of millet is becoming relevant. “The production and consumption of such a crop as millet is, of course, a promising direction in the work of our agricultural sector.” Senator Mitin S.G. noted that despite the small area of millet cultivation in Russia (238 thousand hectares were sown in 2022), the export component of millet increased sharply. Compared to 2020, exports increased by 45% and amounted to 63 thousand tons. “This indicates the global demand for this crop, our capabilities and the competitiveness of Russian millet, and also makes this crop attractive to growers.” The task of the Organizing Committee is also to popularize millet as a useful and necessary product. Therefore, explanatory work is needed on the nutritional and dietary values of millet to restore the traditions of healthy eating, he stressed.
According to Oleg Kobyakov, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Liaison Office for the Russian Federation, the purpose of the International Year of Millet is to raise awareness of the valuable nutritional properties of this grain, the health benefits and the opportunity to grow this unpretentious crop in unfavorable and changeable climatic conditions, as well as bringing these issues to the attention of policy makers. According to the UN, growing millet as an agricultural crop is a great way to increase the country’s self-sufficiency and reduce its dependence on imported grains.
Director of the XXVIII International Specialized Trade and Industrial Exhibition “MVC: Cereals-Mixed Feed-Veterinary Medicine 2023” Katsnelson Yu.M. noted that as part of the business program of the exhibition this year, it is planned to hold an international conference dedicated to IHP 2023. It will bring together representatives of agronomic science, government authorities, specialized associations and business structures. Issues of cultivation and adaptation of millet crops in different regions of the country, breeding of new varieties, processing of millet grain, manufacturing various products from it and using it in a wide variety of industries, from food to mixed fodder, will be discussed. It is planned that the conference will be attended by foreign guests and, above all, Indian millet processing companies. “Today, over 100 Indian companies have received information, and we expect a large Indian landing force to land at VDNKh at the end of June,” Yu.M. Katsnelson said.
The First Secretary, Head of the Economic and Commercial Department of the Embassy of India in the Russian Federation, Mr. Ved Prakash Singh expressed his gratitude to the members of the organizing committee for holding the “International Year of Millet” in Russia, spoke about the success of growing this crop in India, announced the planned participation of a large group of Indian businessmen in the exhibition and international conference dedicated to the “International Year of Millet”. “The organization within the framework of the exhibition of the Russian-Indian festival of public catering, where food products from millet will dominate, will undoubtedly draw the attention of exhibitors and visitors to this product useful for the culture of healthy human nutrition. In India, millet is loved and widely used. A large number of dishes are prepared from it, which we would like to demonstrate.” Mr Singh said.
President of the Russian Union of Flour and Cereal Enterprises Sviridenko I. N. reported that millet is one of the four most common types of cereal production in Russia; spoke about the existing problems associated with the pricing of millet as a product of millet processing. The Russian Union of Flour and Cereal Enterprises will actively participate in all events dedicated to the holding of the “International Year of Millet” in Russia.
For additional information, please contact: Sidorin Andrey Gennadievich, Press Secretary of the International Specialized Exhibition “MVC: Cereals-Mixed Feed-Veterinary”, e-mail: smi@expohleb.ru tel. +7 495 755 50 38 (ext. 123).
The full version on the site “MVC: Cereals-Mixed Feed – Veterinary Medicine” will become the venue for the “IGP-2023” in Russia
