HAU to set up millet research centre in Bhiwani village

Bhiwani, March 13

Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University (HAU) has decided to set up a nutro-cereals research station at Gokalpura village in Bhiwani district.

Haryana Agriculture Minister Jai Prakash Dalal has laid the foundation stone of the project, which will be built on 63 acres at Gokalpura village.

The minister said this centre would prove to be a boon for farmers of rain-fed areas as it would develop advanced technology of rain-fed crops such as millet. He said to ensure food security, the focus has been on high productivity and usable crops such as wheat and paddy. “As a result, coarse cereals which are rich in nutrients are not given prominence in research. The government has now recognised the importance of nutritious cereals and thus has included bajra (millet) as an integral part of the National Food Security Mission. Coarse cereals such as bajra, jowar, ragi etc have significantly higher amount of fat, fiber and minerals than wheat and rice.

He expressed his gratitude to the gram panchayat for providing the land and said with the establishment of this research centre, the millet farmers would become prosperous. The centre will also provide new employment opportunities to the youth as a total of 93 posts of scientific and support staff have been approved by the state government for this centre. Vice-Chancellor Prof BR Kamboj said so far, 17 hybrid and four composite varieties of millet have been developed in the university. The Vice- Chancellor said with the opening of this research centre, research on nutritious cereals such as millet would get further impetus. All efforts will be farmer centric so that the income of the farmers of rain-fed areas can also be improved, he said.