The conscious pursuit of an agricultural policy since the 1960s to meet national food security with paddy and wheat has led to a decline in millet production and consumption. Also, crop patterns have changed in a big way due to unfavourable climatic conditions, market opportunities and the cost of inputs. Rather than cultivate for self-consumption, farmers lean heavily towards market-oriented agriculture to meet the heavy input cost and to keep pace with the market economy. The high yielding varieties of various crops and market opportunities associated with them have forced farmers, especially small and marginal farmers who were the main producers of millets for local consumption, to give up cultivation of millets.

Besides reducing crop diversity, this shift has caused nutritional imbalances, persistent food insecurity and hunger in rainfed areas. Compared to other crops, millets need less water, are drought resistant, provide a healthy and nutritious food. But the reality is that millets have begun to disappear from the modern agriculture scenario. Millet cultivation declined from 37.5 m ha in 1970 to 19.8 m ha in 2008. Millets need to be brought back into local production and consumption, at least in areas where they have been traditionally grown.

Why millets

  • Millet production is not dependent on the use of synthetic fertilizers.

  • Millets are pest-free crops.

  • Millets have a high nutritional content.

  • The only crops that sustain agriculture and food security on rainfed lands are millets.

  • Millets are not just crops but a cropping system.

  • Most millet fields are inherently bio-diverse.

  • Millets produce multiple security -food, nutrition, fodder, fibre, health, livelihood and ecology.

  • Millets are climate change resilient crops. (Source: Dr A. Nirmala Kumari, Professor, Department of Millets, CPBG, TNAU, Coimbatore)

Invest in

  • Establishing seed systems and incentives to increase area and productivity of millets in traditional millet growing regions

  • Evolving value chains to explore new markets and initiatives to promote millets in local diets through inclusion in PDS, midday meal and other programmes

Why sorghum

Sorghum is a drought resistant, traditional crop, largely cultivated in dry areas. It needs low inputs in the form of pesticides and fertilizers and was the staple food of previous generations. It is a trational food , jonna roti and jonna sangati, which is nutritious and has health benefit.

Jowar needs much less water compared to other crops. Also, farmers use very little or no fertiliser and pesticides to grow jowar. If jowar consumption grows, the demand for sorghum increases and farmers stand to get a better price for their crop. The cultivating area for jowar is also likely to be automatically increased. More women can be involved in the programme for value added sorghum products, thereby acquiring sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Value addition to sorghum

Most millets require a laborious and lengthy process to make the food ready to eat. This has compelled modern food managers to give up this nutritious and healthy food.

Therefore, RRAN thought of finidng alternative ways to save cooking time and to come up with a variety of items that could be produced from jowar, RRAN ended up with value addition to sorghum.

The College of Home Science of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University prepared about 32 varieties of items such as biscuits, cakes, rava laddus, semolina, sweets, etc. from sorghum. But popularizing these items at the field level was a problem. So RDS joined hands with the Home Science College and took the responsibility of popularizing the consumption of sorghum items.

RDS consulted with some SHG members and arranged training programmes on the processing and preparation of various items from sorghum at Home Science College.

Initially five members were trained and supported with equipment and working capital to start their own enterprise of value-added sorghum products.

There was a tremendous demand for the sorghum products in the local market because so many varieties of food made from sorghum were new to the area and the items were tasty. More self-help groups (SHGs) came forward to undergo training on value addition of sorghum and through the already-trained women, RDS conducted many training programmes.

Popularisation and publicity

RDS organised many sorghum food melas in small towns and arranged exhibitions to publicise the products. In addition, we participated in exhibitions arranged by institutions such as ANGRAU, NRCS, NIRD, NABARD, ICAR and WASSAN. We opened a food outlet at Wanaparthy town and were able to get a good market for the products. By collaborating with the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), we conducted a study on the nutritive value of sorghum and its effect on school children over seven months. Another study was conducted on the effect of sorghum food on diabetic patients. Both the studies revealed a positive outcome.