For centuries, millets were the staples in India but gradually were relegated to the background and got marginalized post green revolution [GR] as the emphasis shifted to increased food grain production & productivity using high yielding varieties of wheat & rice in the identified GR geographies.
Millets are small-grained, annual, warm-weather cereals belonging to the grass family. Jowar (Sorghum), Bajra (Pearl Millet) and Ragi (Finger millet) are the important millets cultivated in India. Small Millets such as Proso (Cheena), Kodo (Kodra, Arikelu), Fox tail (Kangni/Korra), Barnyard (Varai, Sawa), Little millet (Kutki) are also grown in our country.
Millets are the staple crops of the semiarid tropics, as other food crops cannot be cultivated in that terrain due to low rainfall and poor soil fertility. They also have higher nutrient content compared to major cereal crops and ensure food and nutrition security. Further, millets are tolerant to drought and other extreme weather conditions and hence are endemic to such geographies.
With growing concerns of life style diseases coupled with ‘refined’ diet culture, the modern consumers are slowly, but increasingly looking at the nutrient rich millets as a suitable alternative to wheat and rice. With the COVID -19, momentum picked up and both the urban and rural consumers are choosing millets for improving their nutrition & strengthening their immunity.
In order to encourage production and consumption of millets, Government of India notified millets as Nutri-Cereals in April, 2018, which includes Sorghum (Jowar), Pearl Millet (Bajra), Finger Millet (Ragi/Mandua) & Minor Millets namely; Foxtail Millet (Kangani/Kakun), Proso Millet (Cheena), Kodo Millet (Kodo), Barnyard Millet (Sawa/Sanwa/ Jhangora), Little Millet (Kutki) and two Pseudo -millets viz Buckwheat (Kuttu) and Amaranthus (Chaulai).
To create domestic and global demand and to provide nutritional food to the people, Government of India had proposed to the United Nations for declaring 2023 as International Year of Millets (IYoM-2023).
The proposal of India was supported by 72 countries and United Nation's General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2023 as International Year of Millets on 5th March, 2021. This led to the Hon’ble Union Finance Minister making a Budget announcement on 1st February 2022: “2023 has been announced as the International Year of Millets. Support will be provided for post-harvest value addition, enhancing domestic consumption and branding of millet products nationally and internationally”
In line with GOI announcement, NABARD intends to intensify engagement with millets through pilot projects, stakeholder consultations, FPOs, capacity building, publication etc. This page will captures the initiatives of NABARD in this regard.