Millets: Nutri-cereals and Super food

GS-2: Issues relating to Poverty and Hunger.;

GS-3: Public Distribution System, issue of buffer stocks, Cropping Patterns in various parts of the country,

Key phrases- PDS, millets, MSP, nutria-cereals

Why in news-

UN declared 2023 as year of millets

Millets are a group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown as cereal crops or grains for human food and as fodder
India is the largest producer of millets in the world with a 41.0% global market share
In 2018, India had proposed to celebrate 2023 as International Year of Millets at FAO
Three major millet crops currently growing in India are jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet) and ragi (finger millet)

Aid in fighting malnutrition as they are rich in rich in fiber, minerals, vitamins -Finger millet has 839% calcium content of wheat
They are Gluten-free which is advantageous for people suffering from diabetes
Millet crops sequester carbon from the atmosphere while paddy fields emit methane
Millets are less water intensive. E.g., One rice plant requires nearly 2.5 times the amount of water required by a single millet plant
Millets are called ‘Famine reserves’ as they have a short growing season of 65 days and can keep well for two years or beyond.

In the 1960s before the Green Revolution, millets were extensively grown and consumed in India. With the Green Revolution, the focus, rightly so, shifted to food security and high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice.
Preference for Wheat in urban and now even rural areas due to better texture and changing food habits
Lack of appropriate post-harvest processing technologies for small millets except finger millet
With the intense marketing of processed foods, even the rural population started perceiving mill-processed rice and wheat as more aspirational.
In rural India, the National Food Security Act of 2013 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, thus reducing the demand for millets.
Scalable intervention in millet production, processing, and cross-border trade is yet to be observed

Millet Mission in 2018 as part of the National Food Security Mission - Promotion of technological interventions, improvement in seed quality
First strategy from a consumption and trade point of view was to re-brand coarse cereals/millets as nutri-cereals
From 2014-15 to 2020 MSPs for ragi has jumped by 113 per cent, by 72 per cent for bajra and by 71 per cent for jowar
To provide a steady market for the produce, government included millets in the public distribution system
Ministry of Women and Child Development has been working at the intersection of agriculture and nutrition by –
- Setting up nutri-gardens,
- Promoting research on the inter linkages between crop diversity and dietary diversity

Map the millets value chain, namely production, processing, distribution, consumption, and cross-border trades with the functions of agencies and actors involved in the value chain.
Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes and Krishi Vigyan Kendras can invest in capacity building of smallholder farmers through field demonstration
Promote participatory millets farming, drawing best practices from Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka. Agri-tech farms can be roped in to disseminate recommended practices to micro-entrepreneurs
APEDA can incentivize commercial cultivation of millets such as ‘one district one product’ or cluster farming for trade promotion
Generation of demand for millets-based products.2018 ‘#LetsMilletCampaign’ in Bengaluru promoted the use of millets in dishes such as risotto and pizza by restaurateurs. Food delivery startups such as FreshMenu rolled out millet-intensive menus
Re-introduction of cultural associations and festivals that help promote the growth of millets. E.g., North-East Network in Nagaland organized in 2020, Mandukiya in Vishakhapatnam celebrated annually in June/July

Source: Business Line