wonder world of millets
DESCRIPTION
DDS Presentation during the North East Consultation on 'Millets' - 24th and 25th March 2010TRANSCRIPT
WONDER WORLDWONDER WORLD
OF OF
MILLETSMILLETS
India Leads Global Millet Consumption
India tops global listCountry 5Year Average
• India 9,041,765• Nigeria 4,299,211• Niger 1,733,793• China 1,116,505• Burkina Faso 856,337• Mali 701,701• Russian Federation 280,941
Wonder world of Millets
• Capacity to flourish under low rainfall
• Harsh soils
• Low or no external inputs
• God’s own crops
Wonder world of Millets
• Offer superior food
• Fodder and livelihood
• Multiple Security
• High Health
• High Nutrition
Foods of Future
• Currently 44% of total foodgrains
• 75% pulses; 90% sorghum, millets
• Add cultivation in another 25 million Ha
• Nearly 60% of Indian production from millet fields
• Fill gaps left by wheat and rice
Offer Fodder Security
• Sorghum, Peal millet are excellent fodder
• Grow upto 3 mt
• Fresh or dried, support 5 heads of livestock/ha
• All other millets are also fodder
Health & Nutritional Security
• Storehouses of Nutrition
• Both major nutrients and micronutrients
• Can prevent India from being Diabetic Capital of the world
Storehouses of Nutrition
3816.92.31.310.6Pearl millet
179.31.57.67.7Little millet
415.31.51.211.8Wheat
100.70.60.26.8Rice
1115.210.111.2Barnyard millet
270.52.698.3Kodo millet
140.81.92.212.5Proso millet
312.83.3812.3Foxtail millet
3443.92.73.67.3Finger millet
Calcium (mg)
Iron (mg)
Minerals (g)
Fiber (g)
Protein (g)Crop/Nutrituent
415.31.51.211.8Wheat
100.70.60.26.8Rice
179.31.57.67.7Little millet
312.83.3812.3Foxtail millet [KORRA]
3443.92.73.67.3Finger millet [RAGI]
3816.92.31.310.6Pearl millet [SAJJA]
Cal(mg)
Iron (mg)
Min (g)
Fibr(g)
Protn(g)C R O P
Livelihood Security
• Every hectare of millet field supports 100pd
livelihoods
• Together more than 100 mlnpeople live on millet based livelihoods
Ecological Security
• Grown in traditional fashion, millets fields are ecological fields
• No chemical fertilisers, pesticides
• Huge biodiversity
Wonder world of Millets
• Biodiverseenvironment
• Cereals, pulses, oilseeds
• Baranaja,
• Saat Dhan,
• PannenduPanta
Wonder world of Millets
• Uncultivated foods
• Food variety
• Fodder variety
• Self regenerating soils
• Carbon fixation –climate change
Marginalising Millets
• Name it Coarse Cereal not Nutricereal
• No millet based PDS
• Large fallowisation
Marginalising Millets
• 35% shrinkage in millet area
• 4 m Ha fallowed
• Cheap PDS has demolished millet food culture
• Plates of the poor to elite tables
Recapturing Millets
• Crop of Food Sovereignty
• Concept, not crop
• New millet PDS
• Control by the marginalised
• MINI
Enabling people to seize the moment
• Creating enabling conditions
• Move away from the Rice-Wheat dependcy?
• Resist organic monocultures?
• Challenge the castles of dominant paradigm of agricultural research?
• No hybrid, GE led organic
The Millet Moment
• Handing millets the food destiny of India
• Shaping the new food politics
• Redesigning the farming landscape
• Rainfed India leading the farming renaissance
DEMANDS FOR MILLETS
• High priority in the National Food Security Act
• Put millets into public food systems
• Recognise millets as Climate Change Compliant Crops and promote their cultivation and consumption
MILLETSFuture of
Food and Farming
Climate Compliant Crops
• High Heat, low rainfall
• Drought conditions
• High malnutrition
• Millets as answers to all these challenges
• Wheat & rice may disappear
Heat & The Millet
• Sorghum and high heat
• Bajra and high heat
• Drought tolerance capabilities
• Natural C4 crops
• Thermally sensitive wheat
• GHG producing paddy rice
Comparision of Water Requirement of Different Crops
(in mm)
300 350450
2100
350400 500
600
1250
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Water requirement (mm)
Pulses
Bajra (Pearl millet)
Ragi (Finger millet)
Jowar (Sorghum millet)
Groundnut
Maize
Cotton
Rice
Sugarcane
Water guzzlers vswater conservers
Price Water Couper
• One kg of paddy needs 3-4000 litres of water
• If priced for water, will cost Rs.40 per kg @ one paise/litre; rice: Rs.70
• Every acre of paddy uses up 6 mlnlitres of water
• Imagine the savings by millets
Rain Uncertain
• Traditional millet farming systems, diversity
• Early rain, normal rain, delayed rain, low rain, heavy rain: a solution for every rain
• Non irrigated environments
• Uniform experience all across India
415.31.51.211.8Wheat
100.70.60.26.8Rice
179.31.57.67.7Little millet
312.83.3812.3Foxtail millet [KORRA]
3443.92.73.67.3Finger millet [RAGI]
3816.92.31.310.6Pearl millet [SAJJA]
Cal(mg)
Iron (mg)
Min (g)
Fibr(g)
Protein
(g)C R O P
Carbon Sequesters
• Traditional millet cropping systems
• Legumes with sorghum and millets
• Carbon sequestering capacity
Honouring Millets
* ANNOUNCE• Biodiversity bonus
• Water conservation bonus
• Climate change bonus
• Rs.5000/Ha for minor millets
• Rs.2000/Ha for major millets
• Peanuts in front of 140000 crsubsidy on chemical fertilisers
People - Climate
• Food, nutrition and health Sovereign communities
• Dryland communities where most poor and marginalised live
• Non irrigated rainfed crops
• Create multiple securities
• Honour and build communities of the poor and the marginalised
Millets for North East
• Konidhan; Dr Chaudhry
• Mapping Millet Diversity
• Value addition to existing dietary practices
• Climate change and adaptability
Millets for North East
• Nostalgia in Nagaland
• Shifting Cultivation and Diversity
• Farmers recollection of millet varieties in their diet
WE HAVE
THE POWER
TO HEAL
THE PLANET