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Millets, the answer to India’s food security
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Saturday, 01 May, 2010, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bangalore
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India making major efforts to ensure the consumption of millets is on the rise. In this regard considerable importance is given to processing and value addition of finger millet or small millets.
The millets are known to be low in dietary bulk, high in nutrient density and known for its good profile of amino acids, according to officials from the department of food and nutrition, a division of Home Science, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.
In this regard an event was organised by Rainbow LifeLine Conservation Society and non-governmental organisations to highlight the forgotten millets and value-added food products. Some of the forgotten millets are foxtail millet, sorghum, spiked millet, kodo millet, little millet, proso millet and barnyard millet.
According to the UAS, there are several projects under the National Agriculture Innovation Scheme and UAS is one of the stakeholders working on the development of millets and maize.
While Karnataka is one of the leading states in the production of millets, primarily finger millets or ragi, it is looking to increase the acreage through intercropping.
Currently the key millet growing regions in the state are Old Mysore, Bangalore rural, Chennapatna, and Kollegal, Tumkur, Gauribidnaur, Chitradurga, Davengere.
Millets are priced between Rs 1,900 and Rs. 2,000 per quintal and finger millet costs Rs 1,600 to Rs. 2,000. The rise in prices are attributed to the low supply of the produce.
Among the value added products are ready-to-eat flour, papad, chaklis, cakes and biscuits. Sahaja Samrudha, an organic farmers association of Karnataka, is now selling many of the value added products of millets at outlets in the state.
The cultivation of millets is highly recommended for drought prone regions because these are low water consuming crops. Most millets are grown in low fertile soils. It is the ideal crop for climate crisis because it can withstand high temperature regimes. These include both acidic and saline soils. Pearl millets can be grown in the deserts too. It also does not demand synthetic fertilizers. Further, these are pest free crops.
The biggest advantage of millets is that it can provide multiple security like food, nutrition, fodder, fibre, health, livelihood and ecology, according to Millet Network of India – Deccan Development Society-FIAN India.
In terms of nutrition, millets are far more valuable than rice and wheat. Finger millet has 30 times more calcium compared to rice. Foxtail and little millet are also higher in nutrition compared to rice. It also contains high quantity of beta carotene.
According to G Krishna Prasad, director, Sahaja Samrudha, there is an urgent need to put millets in the Public Distribution System. Millets are also water saving and drought tolerant crops. Therefore, they must be viewed as climate change compliant crops. This factor makes the crop India’s food and farming future. This is the perspective from which millet cultivation must be regarded.
Every millet farmer in India must be given a climate change bonus, biodiversity bonus and water conservation bonus, according to Millet Network of India – Deccan Development Society-FIAN India.
Different parts of India grow diverse kinds of millets. While Rajasthan is home to the pearl millet (Bajra), Deccan Plateau comprising Marathwada in Maharashtra, Telangana in Andhra Pradesh and parts of North Karantaka are well-known for sorghum or great millet. Southern Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and southern Karnataka are known for finger millet or ragi. Uttarakhand and other hilly areas grow a range of small millets like foxtail and proso, kodo and barnyard. If the public distribution system includes these millets, then it will provide the below the poverty line population a food and nutritional security programme.
The pro-millet PDS paradigm must depend on a completely decentralised approach based on local production, local storage and local distribution, said Prasad. However, this must be supported by the government both in procurement and in storage. The government must, on a war footing, provide space for millet based foods in ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services), school meals and welfare hostel programmes. This will overcome the problem of malnutrition of young children where India fares worse than the sub-Saharan region.
“Further, there are also a number of institutional mechanisms to be created. This is because millets need a number of conditions. The key factor is to increase the livestock which are local breeds and adapted to local ecosystem. This will only forge alliances between farmers and will help increase the organic manure, fodder availability, milk production and increased incomes for farmers, ”said Prasad.
The focus should be given to the productivity of rainfed lands where millets are grown. This could be achieved through special water shed on millet lands and dovetailing the government’s employment programme such as NREGA ( National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) to support millet cultivation from sowing to harvesting.
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