Coarse cereals are much in focus after the declaration by the United Nations, on an initiative taken by India, of 2023 as the International Year of Millets. There is a publicity drive and many awareness programmes that project the value of millets as food and crop. The Union Budget for 2022-23 also made a proposal to make India a global hub of millets, though no concrete plans for it were announced. Millets have received attention in the last many years for reasons related to nutrition, environment, economy and other factors. India is the largest producer and the second largest exporter of millets in the world and can continue its leadership if the right policies are adopted to encourage more cultivation and consumption of millets. The more important millets are jowar, bajra and ragi but there are a number of minor ones, too. Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are the leading producers.
The production of millets has fallen in the country in the last few decades. The acreage also declined in the latest Rabi season even as the overall farm acreage increased. The reasons need to be taken into consideration when millets are promoted as crops and food. Wheat flour and rice are easier to handle in the kitchen for making rotis and other items. In large parts of the country, food means food grains like wheat and rice as people are used to them and they are available in the public distribution system. When incomes rise people like to move from millets, which were considered to be the poor man’s food. As for the farmers, they are also used to cultivating wheat and paddy. When irrigation expands, farmers shift to paddy and wheat, which need water. They are also attracted to wheat and paddy because they give them more returns, given the incentives provided via both subsidies and assured purchase price.
But millets have advantages that make them special. They have higher nutritional values than other grains in terms of vitamins, minerals and fibre content. They are suitable for cultivation even in arid and semi-arid regions and need less than half the quantity of water that wheat and rice need. This is a great advantage when availability of water is steadily shrinking. They are hardier and more resistant to the vagaries of weather and pests, and have a much shorter growth season. Millets will be more suitable in an environment in which climate change will seriously impact agriculture. Farmers should be encouraged to cultivate them with the offer of various incentives like competitive prices and other kinds of aid. Consumption can also be encouraged with supply through the PDS. Millets should be given a better deal.