Thank you, Zdravka, for keeping us posted on FAO's International Year of Millets Webinars. I was able to catch part of the recent one on "Empowering Farmers, Indigenous Peoples, Women and Youth: Unlocking the Potentials of Millets," and am hoping to review the recording when it is available. May I ask if there is a repository of videos of your Global Webinar series, and where to access it?

Also, in listening to your recent webinar, and then to our 11th webinar the following week, on "Not just for the birds: Millets and animal farming (and other uses)," I was reminded of the importance of millets in general, and the variety of ways in which they serve us.

Some of the uses to which millets are put in North America diverge from the uses - often culturally linked ones - in many communities in Asia and Africa, notably. But in that diversity, it seems to me there is also a unity of interest in these crops and how they benefit us. There is much potential here, and the Year of Millets is playing an important role in creating wider awareness and interest in that potential.

Anyway, looking forward to your next webinar, which I see will focus on fonio, on Nov. 29. Our next webinar will be on Dec. 20, and will consider millets in wider systems perspectives. .

All the best,

Don

Don Osborn, PhD
(East Lansing, MI, US)
North American Millets Alliance


On Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 8:48 AM Dimitrova, Zdravka (NSP) <Zdravka.Dimitrova@fao.org> wrote:

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S A V E  T H E  D A T E

7 November 2023 | 16:00-17:15 CET

                                                             

International Year of Millets Global Webinar Series

5th Webinar:

“Empowering farmers, Indigenous Peoples, women and youths: 

unlocking the potentials of millets’’ 

 

REGISTER HERE

                                                             

 

The United Nations General Assembly at its 75th Session in March 2021 declared 2023 the International Year of Millets (IYM 2023). As part of the IYM2023 celebration, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is organizing a “IYM Global Webinar Series” to shed light on the various environmental, social and economic benefits of millets, their rich heritage and their vast potential.  

The global food system faces many complex challenges, including hunger, malnutrition, limited natural resources and a changing climate. A possible solution to tackle those interconnected challenges is to enhance sustainable crop production, resilient value chains and consumer access to affordable and varied diets. Millets, in their diversity, can contribute to this solution as affordable sources of nutrients for healthy diets that can be cultivated in various adverse climates and arid regions with minimal external inputs.

Join this webinar to learn more about how the cultivation and consumption of millets can help empower smallholder farmers, women, Indigenous Peoples and youths by improving their livelihoods, entrepreneurial opportunities and nutritional status while enhancing the resilience of local production systems, especially through increased on-farm diversity. 

                               

AGENDA

Time  

Agenda item and presenter  

16:00–16:05    

Opening remarks and introduction by Ms Makiko Taguchi, Agricultural Officer, Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP), FAO 

16:05-16:15

Keynote speech

 

Mr Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food 

 

16:15-16:50    

Panel discussion

 

  • Ms Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics  
  • Mr Sayed Azam-Ali, Chief Executive Officer, Crops For the Future 
  • Ms Elizabeth Mpofu, Small-Scale Organic Farmer, African women’s collaborative for healthy food systems
  • Ms Ferosta Basumatary, World President, International Movement of Catholic Agriculture and Rural Youth, member of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism to Committee on World Food Security 
  • Mr Ramesh Sharma, National Convenor, Ekta Parishad

 

 

16:50 –17:10 

Q&A session  

 

17:10 –17:15  

Closing remarks by Ms Tacko Ndiaye, Senior Officer, Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP), FAO

 

The event will be moderated by Ms Tacko Ndiaye, Senior Officer, Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP), FAO.

 

Stay tuned for the upcoming IYM 2023 webinar:

29 November 2023 – “Enhancing the collaboration on fonio for sustainable agriculture and improved local livelihoods”

 

For more information, please contact: International-Year-Millets@fao.org

 

 



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