As many as 8 farmers and farm women attended the training programme on “Millets Cultivation” at Skill Development Centre, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), today.

Dr Rupinder Kaur, Associate Director (Skill Development), observed that millets cultivation and processing were need of the hour to inculcate healthy dietary habits, conserve natural resources and get monetary benefits.

Dr Ruchika Bhardwaj, Millets Breeder, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, urged the farmers to grow PAU evolved specialty millet varieties and prepare value-added products from millets to fetch higher price in the market. Two varieties PCB 165 and PCB 167 were highly apt for general cultivation in Punjab, she told, while adding that these could be used for the making of various food products from millets.

Resource persons Dr Amit Kaul, Dr IK Dhaliwal, Dr Maninder Kaur, Dr Harpreet Kaur, Dr Renuka Aggarwal, Dr Jagbir Rehal and Mr Arshdeep Singh apprised the trainees of the millet-based agronomic practices and food processing technologies.

Dr Prerna Kapila, Course Coordinator, welcomed the experts and the trainees, while Ms Kanwaljit Kaur proposed a vote of thanks.