Tasks for India’s millet revolution

Context

Despite the tremendous benefits associated with millet, there are serious constraints to increased millet cultivation and consumption in the country.

About Millets

Millet is a collective term referring to a number of small-seeded annual grasses that are cultivated as grain crops, primarily on marginal lands in dry areas in temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions.
Two groups of millets are grown in India.
- Major millets include sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet
- Minor millets include foxtail, little millet, kodo, proso, and barnyard millet
Benefits: Millets have
- special nutritive properties: they are high in protein, dietary fibre, micronutrients and antioxidants
- special agronomic characteristics: drought-resistant and suitable for semi-arid regions

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets.

What are the real problems?

Recent Government Interventions

The Government of India and State governments, notably Karnataka and Odisha, have initiated Millet Missions.
- Odisha already has a dedicated millets mission that undertook procurement of 32,302 tonnes worth Rs 109.08 crore, mainly of ragi, in 2021-22.
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana might want to do the same in bajra, just as Maharashtra may for jowar, Karnataka for ragi, and Madhya Pradesh for Kodo/ kutki.