GUWAHATI
Cereal experts from India, Australia, and Canada have called for establishing the Wheat Board of India with representatives from all levels of the supply chain for ensuring healthy growth in the production, storage, processing, and utilisation of wheat in the country.
The experts batted for creating an integrated multi-disciplinary organisation to address end-to-end compliance at both the Central and State government levels for ensuring food and nutritional security through wheat for the growing population.
These were among the recommendations adopted at the two-day international milling and baking technical conference that concluded in Guwahati on Friday. The event was organised by the Wheat Products Promotion Society (WPPS), a 33-year-old non-profit organisation.
“Given the enormous increase in wheat requirements, producing and consuming countries need to address critical issues and explore the future of wheat-based industries,” WPPS chairman Ajay Goyal said.
The experts underscored the need for a board to deal with issues related to wheat and wheat-based products just as the boards for tea, coffee, or spices do.
The panelists also called for biofortified wheat varieties to address the nutritional needs of the population, the initiation of a nationwide programme to modernise the storage and handling of wheat for reducing post-harvest losses, and incentivising sustainable processing technologies.
Among the other recommendations was letting agriculture and food research organisations prioritise the development of climate-resilient wheat varieties with higher productivity traits.
“Food research institutes should focus on developing milling technologies to achieve higher recovery of various milling streams for human utilisation,” the recommendation read.
