Recently, the Prime Minister inaugurated the ‘Global Millets’ conference in New Delhi, describing it as a symbol of India’s responsibilities towards the global good. The Prime Minister also said that millets are becoming a medium for holistic development in India and India’s millets mission will prove to be a boon for the 2 and 1/2 crore millet producing farmers of the country.
The Prime Minister also declared the Indian Institute of Millet Research (ICAR) as a Global Centre of Excellence. As proposed by India, 2023 has been declared the International Year of Millet by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). India is exporting millets to 139 countries across the globe and the Indian government has also been promoting millet production as part of its national food security mission.
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This is a very important mission and here we need to promote the millet crops in mission mode. This was realised by the government because these are the crops that belong to us; these are the crops whose centers of origin are in India. So, keeping India in mind, we need to see that these are our conventional crops and we need to include them in our food. Earlier, they were an important part of our food and moreover, there is more burden on two crops: one is wheat and the other is rice. So we need to reduce the burden on these two crops and we need to include these crops in our cropping systems so that we can address the issue of food security and nutritional security as well as environmental issues, as we discussed the impact of climate change. These are the crops that are very important and they address all three issues. So, considering its importance, millet has been included in the Millet Mission program, which the government of India declared to be the national year for millet in 2018. The same thing has come under the name Shree Anna to promote it with a new brand name in the international market. Our farmers will get the benefit and we can showcase at the international level that millets are our strength. After independence up until 1960, they were a very important part of our food, but later, when the Green Revolution came, we started keeping these crops aside. Now that the time has come, we must reconsider how we can incorporate more foods into our diet and diversify our food basket.
This is a great time for India because, on the persuasion of India, the UN has declared it the year of millets. By launching this millets mission, it must become a movement of the masses and by doing so, the primary stakeholder, which is the farmer, needs to be profitable. Millet growers have been left to fend for themselves thus far. Now that the government of India is carrying the entire ecosystem that has been developed, it is in favour of farmers and why not? Because millets are climate smart, health smart (we know that they are gluten free), nutrition smart (we know the nutrient profile of millets), but I would also like to add that they are nature smart because today, when natural farming is being promoted, these are the crops that require the least amount of chemical fertilizer, pesticide, etc. So, the farmer must be made profitable by improving productivity and the market has to be prepared to pay more for it, which will raise the demand. There are four aspects that must be addressed. One is productivity-related; the yields must go up for the farmer to make more money. The second is market-related: more innovation in the food industry is required so that consumers have more options. Third are the trade issues that need to be addressed so that export opportunities are tapped and fourth is the need for greater collaboration among the nations, research institutes, chambers, trade bodies and exporters. The Global Excellence Center in IMR Hyderabad should come up with a lot more innovations so that ready-to-eat millet products are available across all stores and everywhere in the world, so that Indian farmers benefit.
Millet was one of the original crops we used to grow in rain-fed areas and it is climate resistant. Over the years, there was hardly any procurement, but currently, the government has targeted procuring close to 50 million tons of millets. Procurement markets and productivity are linked; if you do not procure what is produced, then farmers will lose interest. The National Food Security Act also said that cereals, millets must be given along with the rice and wheat. The encouraging part of the thing is that we have seen in the last couple of months that even corporations have jumped into it; many of the big companies are getting into millet products. So the idea is that the whole value chain has to be streamlined because it is still evolving. The farmers must be encouraged and given incentives after procuring those commodities. The research part must go a little deeper into the productivity path and shelf life; these two aspects are important because millet has a very short shelf life and this part has to be taken into account. Millets are nutrition products; hence, millets are a win-win kind of crop and they can be blended with many other commodities, like food products. Since corporations have joined in on this opportunity, big companies like Tata, ITC, etc. are into millet-based products.
So that means that the value chain is gradually being developed and millet will get a boost in the next 5 to 10 years. We can reduce our dependence on rice and wheat, which are water-intensive crops. Millets require the least amount of water among the crops. In a nutshell, over the next five to ten years, our focus should be on productivity and creating the value chain for the farmers so they completely gain from this product.
These are various aspects of millets and the Mission Millets or Shre Anna as it is being known right now which is sort of a wonder food or in terms of qualities be it nutritional be it the ones which we know will help the environment and help our farmers who produce these millets.
The ultimate idea is to ensure that the consumers who eat millets are healthy, get nutritious food and the farmers also get their dues in terms of the food they grow that is millets.
(The author is an Advocate by Profession)
