Significance of Millet Cultivation in India

WHY IN NEWS?

• The U.N. General Assembly recently adopted a resolution, sponsored by India and supported by more than 70 countries, declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets

BACKGROUND:

• Millet is a common term to categorize small-seeded grasses that are often termed nutri-cereals or dryland-cereals.
• The three major millet crops currently growing in India are jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet) and ragi (finger millet).
• Major producers include Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.
• kodo (kodo millet), kutki (little millet) are also cultivated in some parts.

STATISTICS:

• India, Nigeria and China are the largest producers of millets in the world, accounting for more than 55% of the global production.
• For many years, India was a major producer of millets. However, in recent years, millet production has increased dramatically in Africa.
• Bajra is the fourth-most widely cultivated food crop in India after rice, wheat and maize.

ADVANTAGES OF MILLET CULTIVATION:

• Sustainable agriculture
  • Most millets are xerophilic:
    • Which means they can reproduce with limited water input
    • Millets generally consumes 25-30% less water than sugarcane and rice, according to Food and Agriculture Organization.
    • For ex: Pearl millet/ bajra can grow on poor sandy soils and is well suited for dry climates due to its ability to use moisture efficiently.
  • Climate resilient crop:
    • Millets are generally thermophilic i.e thriving at relatively higher temperatures.
    • Small millets such as finger millet and Kodo millet can be grown in adverse climatic and soil conditions.
    • It has ability to grow on poor soils, hilly terrains and with little rain.
  • Carbon sequestration:
    • Millets are C4 carbon sequestrating crops contributing to the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere.
• Economic security:
  • Low investment required:
    • Millets can be grown on dry, low-fertile, mountainous and rain-fed areas.
    • It requires little irrigation and no fertilizers at all.
    • A survey conducted by Deccan Development Society (DDS) indicates that 97 per cent of the households did not use fertilisers for millets.
  • Short cropping duration
    • Millets has cropping duration of 70-100 days, as against 120-150 days for paddy/wheat >> which allows millets to be a part of multiple cropping systems in both rain-fed and irrigated areas
  • Millets are photo-insensitive
    • Which means it do not require a specific photoperiod for flowering
  • More shelf life than rice/wheat:
    • Millets can be stored for a considerable amount of time under appropriate storage conditions, therefore making them ‘famine reserves’.
  • Export potential:
    • Millets with its high nutrients has a good market in developed regions of the world.
  • Promotion of millets will ensure food and livelihood security to small and marginal farmers and inhabitants of rainfed areas, especially in remote tribal areas
• Nutritional security:
  • Millets has higher levels of protein with more balanced amino acid profile.
  • Also they are high in dietary fibre.
  • They are also rich in micro nutrients like iron, zinc etc.
  • It high Iron content can fight high prevalence of anaemia in India women of reproductive age and infants.
  • Ragi is known to have the highest calcium content among all the food grains.
• Health benefits:
  • Gluten free >> makes them easily digestible and non-allergenic foods
  • They have a low glycemic index (a relative ranking of carbohydrate in foods according to how they affect blood glucose levels) >> suitable for diabetic patients.
  • They contains phytate >> which is associated with reducing risk of cancer.
  • They also contain phyto-nutrients, including phytic acid, which is believed to lower cholesterol.
• International Relation
  • India exported about 15.4% of the world’s Bajra to roughly 60 countries from 2013 to 2018
  • More than 40% of global millet consumption is held by African countries mainly Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina, and Sudan, where food and nutritional security are the major challenges.
  • India can become an effective exporter to develop better relation with these countries.

INITIATIVES:

• Re-branding:
  • The Union Agriculture Ministry, in April 2018, declared millets as ‘Nutri-Cereals’, considering their ‘high nutritive value’ and also ‘anti-diabetic properties’.
  • It was previously called ‘coarse cereals’.
• Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millet Promotion (INSIMP):
  • The scheme aims to catalyse increased production of millets in the country >> to enhance India's nutritional security.
  • It involves providing input kits, establishment of units for processing and value-addition etc.
  • It is a part of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
• National year of millets:
  • 2018 was observed as ‘National Year of Millets”.
• U.N. declaration of 2023 as International Year of Millets.
  • The resolution is intended to increase public awareness on the health benefits of millets and their suitability for cultivation under tough conditions marked by climate change.
• Hike in MSP:
  • Government has recently substantially hiked the minimum support price (MSP) of millets so that more and more farmers may opt for cultivation of these less water consuming crops.
• Encouraging consumption:
  • Millets are being purchased at the support price and are also being included in the mid-day meal scheme and public distribution system, for encouraging its consumption.

CHALLENGES:

• Historical policy neglect of these crops:
  • Our post-green revolution period witnessed skewed focus on rice and wheat neglecting other crops such as millets and pulses.
  • Government support such as MSP, public procurement etc are largely restricted to rice and wheat.
  • Therefore India has witnessed a 60 per cent decline in the area under millets since 1960s. What made up nearly 50 per cent of the total national cereal production has virtually been squeezed out of the agricultural scenario.
• Low acreage of millets and production shortage:
  • India currently has only 14 million hectares of land under millets cultivation; as compared to 29 million and 44 million of wheat and rice respectively.
  • As per FAO, India fall short of 40% of millet production by 2023.
• Lack of infrastructure:
  • Lack of reach of improved methods of production and technologies.
  • Lack of appropriate post-harvest processing technologies for small millets.
• Lack of coverage in PDS:
  • National Food Security Act of 2013 – which entitles three-fourths of all households to 5 kg of wheat or rice per person per month at Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg, respectively – has reduced the demand for millets.
• Decreased consumer demand due to difficult in usage:
  • Kneading dough and rolling rotis is much easier with wheat than with millet flour.
  • The reason for this is wheat has gluten proteins that swell and form networks on adding water to the flour, making the dough more cohesive and elastic. The resultant chapattis come out soft, which isn’t possible with millets that are gluten-free.
• Increased penetration of imported millets:
  • There is an increased penetration of imported millets, which is not native to the Indian geography or cuisine.
  • Quinoa is a prominent example that has seen increasing domination in urban diets.
• Competition from other market friendly remunerative crops

SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE CULTIVATION:

• Demand push:
  • Increasing awareness on nutritional and health benefits of millets:
    • General perception is that the millets are increasingly seen as “poor person’s food”.
    • Therefore, it is necessary to re-brand coarse cereals/millets as nutri-cereals and promote their production and consumption.
  • Certification programme for jowar,ragi and bajra:
    • To improve marketability in international market.
  • Inclusion of millets in Public Distribution System and Mid-Day Meal scheme
• Supply side:
  • Value addition:
    • Promotion of processed millet products such as ragi cookies, bajra biscuits, jowar namkeen
  • Focus on indigenous millets
    • There is an increased tend towards use of non-native millets such as Quinoa, especially among urban consumers.
    • Under the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign, indigenous crops must be lent more support and focus.
  • Input support:
    • Supply of certified seeds through KVKs
    • Establishment of Custom hiring centres (CHCs) for farm machineries
    • Support for soil health improvements
    • Concessional credit to farmers moving towards millets from paddy/wheat
  • R and D:
    • Government supported research on innovative millet cultivation methods
  • Strengthening supply chain:
    • Empower women farmers and self-help groups (SHG), by equipping them with advanced packaging techniques, agro-marketing, financial literacy and other entrepreneurial skills.
    • Grassroots workers like the anganwadi and ASHA workers must be further involved as nutrition ambassadors and entrepreneurs in the millet revolution.
  • Introducing millet cultivation in areas where farmers’ distress is visible:
    • In regions of distress millet production will be more attractive to farmers.
    • For instance, the cotton dependency of Vidarbha's farmers and economy is well-known, especially in the arid zones. The region in Maharashtra is also known as the farmer suicide capital.
    • Perhaps one of the most important solutions is to encourage cotton farmers to diversify into millet production after careful feasibility studies and feedback from the farmers themselves.
    • Traditionally, the region of Vidarbha was rich in millet cultivation, and more so because of its predominant rain-fed agricultural landscape.
    • Such an inclusive policy will protect the rights of the average farmer, who are under stress and debt due to the expensive cotton economics, and help women farmers engage in productive agriculture.
  •  Training and capacity
    • Dedicated programmes with proper training and capacity-building initiatives that urge farmers to move away from loss-making crops toward diversification via millets

BEST PRACTICE:

• Dindori model:
  • International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency has supported an initiative in 2013-14 to revive kodo and kutki cultivation in Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh.
  • The identified farmers were supplied good-quality seeds and trained by scientists from the Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University and local Krishi Vigyan Kendra – on field preparation, line-sowing and application of compost, zinc etc.
  • Further, a federation of the farmers’ self-help groups undertook procurement of the produce and also its mechanical de-hulling.
  • The project started in 2013 with 1,497 women-farmers growing millets in 749 acres has risen to 14,301 women-farmers in 2019-20. So has the total acreage to 14,876 acres.
  • This has been enabled by the federations taking up production of ‘kodo bars’ (millets+jaggery+ghee+groundnut). It is being supplied to anganwadi centres in the state.
  • Hence the project has helped in meeting nutritional goals (fighting malnourishment among children) and reviving millet cultivation (crop yields are 1.5-2 times higher than before).
• Inclusion in mid-day meal scheme:
  • Government of Karnataka proposed inclusion millets in school mid-day meal programmes.

CONCLUSION

• Millet cultivation in India could achieve the twin objective of ‘doubling farmers income’ and ‘malnutrition free India’

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. ‘Boosting initiatives around millet value chain is one of the most effective ways to address agricultural challenges’. Comment.