Millets as Miracle Grains!

Millets need little water for their production, compared to cash crops. Millets and require just around 25% of the rainfall regime demanded by crops such as sugarcane and banana. Thus, they do not burden the state with demands for irrigation or power. Millets are often growing on skeletal soils that are less than 15 cm deep. It does not demand rich soils for their survival and growth. Hence, for the vast dryland area, they are a boon. Millet production is not dependent on the use of synthetic fertilizers. Most millet farmers therefore use farmyard manures and in recent times, household produced biofertilisers. Therefore, they can significantly reduce the huge burden of fertilizer subsidy borne by the government. Grown under traditional methods, no millet attracts any pest. They can be termed as crops. A majority of them are not affected by storage pests either. Therefore, their need for pesticides is close to nil. Thus, they are a great boon to the agricultural environment. Millets are amazing in their nutrition content. Each of the millets is three to five times nutritionally superior to the widely promoted rice and wheat in terms of proteins, minerals and vitamins

Millets as Climate Change Compliant Crops

All these qualities of millet farming system make them the . Climate change portends less rain, more heat, reduced water availability and increased malnutrition. If there is any cropping system that can withstand these challenges, survive and flourish, it is the millet system. It is important to note that with the projected 2 degree celsius temperature rise, wheat might disappear from our midst, since it is an extremely thermal sensitive crop. Similarly, the way rice is grown under standing water makes it a dangerous crop under climate change conditions. Methane emanating from water-drenched rice fields, is a green house gas, that severely threatens our environment. Millets are all-season crops whereas wheat is season specific.

Disappearing Millet system

In spite of all these extraordinary qualities and capacities of millet farming systems, the area under millet production has been shrinking over the last five decades and rapidly, since the Green Revolution period. Between 1966 and 2006, 44% of millet cultivation areas were occupied by other crops signifying an extraordinary loss to India’s food and farming systems. Declining state support in terms of crop loans and crop insurance has significantly contributed to this decline and fall of millets in Indian agriculture. Unless this is halted urgently through a slew of policy and financial incentives,millets might disappear from the agrarian landscape of India over the next fifty years. This will not only be a loss to India’s food and farming systems, but will also prove to be a civilisational and ecological disaster. climate change compliant crops cultivated round the year While wheat and rice might provide only food security, millets produce multiple securities (food, fodder, health, nutrition, livelihood and ecological) making them the crops of agricultural security.