In my childhood in early 1970s, I consumed lot of finger millet. It was not for taste, nutrition or any other reason but it was the only choice available. Consuming cereals and pulses were luxury, and we couldn’t afford them. Maize and millets are still staples for many in Asia and Africa. As we progressed, growing millets declined in my native home. Millets had an inverse relationship with income. I never thought the day would come when millets would become so popular and expensive. They became wonder foods known for nutrition and health benefits. I am wondering if millets are going to be even more fancied by rich and famous, making them far more expensive when making cereals. The whole world is going to celebrate 2023 as International Year of Millets (IYM). The Indian government believes that millets could be the next big thing, a superfood destined to become a major global staple. No wonder we are going to talk a lot more about millets in 2023 and beyond. There has been millet mood in India even before 2023. The Indian government has lined up various millets-centric activities during 2023. I too want to be inclusive, so here are my thoughts!

Millets on the Menu

I wrote about millets for food and nutrition security in context of India. Here I am trying to elaborate a little more about how India is gearing up to give a boost to millets. The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, along with other leaders, recently attended a lunch in Parliament where millet dishes were served. The luncheon served an elaborately curated millet buffet to highlight the diversity of Indian millets and a variety of millet cuisines. It has been planned that government canteens, student hostels, and various government departments would host special millet festivals serving a variety of millets on a weekly basis. The Indian Institute of Millets Research has published a book Millet Recipes. Ahead of the IYM 2023 celebrations, all offices of the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) have recently directed to introduce and promote millets by serving millet-based foods in their canteens and in meetings, to promote consumption of millets and in view of their health benefits. I am expecting various organizations, universities, colleges and schools competing to have more millets on their menus this year and beyond.

Research on Millets

India produces a variety of millets. The National Agricultural Research System under the aegis of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been entrusted with the task of enhancing production and productivity of millets that include varietal development, seed availability, area expansion and creating awareness and development of value chain for creating demand of millets. To discuss on these responsibilities and finalization of work plan for celebrating the International Year of Millets 2023, the Secretary of Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General, ICAR, chaired a virtual meeting on December 15, 2022. I attended this meeting along with the senior officers from ICAR, scientists, Directors of the Research institutes, Vice-Chancellors of Agricultural Universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Farm Science Centres). Not only for human foods, millets are used as animal feeds too. Various innovative millet-based animal feeding is going to be explored by the Animal Science institutes of the ICAR as discussed in this meeting.

Conferences on Millets

Various organizations have already started organizing conferences, seminars, exhibitions and trade fairs on millets. On November 30, 2022, I attended a curtain raiser on International Trade Fair on Millets & Organics scheduled to be held during January 20-22, 2023. Many more such events are planned in 2023. The embassies of India across more than 140 countries will be conducting side events on IYM involving the Indian Diaspora through exhibition, seminars, talks and panel discussions. In January, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Agriculture Ministry will be participating in a trade show in Belgium, wherein a multi-stakeholder delegation will showcase the diversity of Indian millets. These events are likely to provide platforms to discuss and deliberate upon the significance of millets and how it impacts food chain in India. Also, these may help recognize the use of millets historically as an integral part of Indian diet and revive and reconnect millets with art and culture of India. It is important to deliberate on challenges in production, processing and marketing alongside solutions for making millets accessible to the masses so as to ensure nutritional as well as food security. These activities will also help comprehend the business and economic environment towards business opportunities in cultivation, processing and marketing millets at national and global level. The stakeholders need to be educated, while creating awareness about the innovative ways of cultivation and trends in bioprospecting of millets at national and international level. 

Export of Millets

World export of millet has increased from USD 380 million in 2019 to USD 402.7 million in 2020. India is the world leader in the production of millets with shares of around 41 percent of total world production in 2020. India produces around 12 million metric tonnes of millets annually, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. The Indian government is working aggressively to facilitate and boost exports of millets. Currently, India is the fifth largest exporter of millets in the world, with exports continuously increasing at around 3 percent CAGR. In 2020-2021, India exported millets worth USD 26.97 million against USD 28.5 million in 2019-2020. The top three importers of millets from India in 2020-2021 were Nepal (USD 6.09 million), UAE (USD 4.84 million) and Saudi Arabia (USD 3.84 million). The other seven destinations in the top-ten list of India's millet export are Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, UK, Yemen, Oman and Algeria.

The Future Scenario

With so much attention and focus on millets, how will it impact other crops like cereals, oilseeds, sugarcane, cotton, pulses prominently grown in India? Many of these crops are high water intensive compared to millets, so they are good for water economy. But water economy is just one criterion for sustainability. Farmers are still not enthused by the prospect of replacing rice and wheat with millets even though they need to  spend less on growing these coarse grains. The main reasons behind the decline in millet production are low remuneration, lack of input subsidies and price incentives, subsidized supply of fine cereals through the Public Distribution System and change in consumer preferences. These factors led to a shift from the production of millets to soybean, maize, cotton, sugarcane and sunflower.  Realizing this disconnect between demand and supply, the government has taken up the task of promoting millets through handholding, incentives including creating domestic and international markets. The policy-making bodies including officials in India are confident that increased demand and consumption of millets could significantly contribute toward 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The global millets market is projected to register a CAGR of 4.5 percent between 2021 and 2026.

Will the millet momentum last long or end with the IYM-2023? I am optimistic that with the growing number of health-conscious people, millet consumption will rise, and so production will increase. Finally, I believe the celebration of International Year of Millets 2023 will pave the way for strengthening the entire millets value chain and lead to enhanced production, consumption and export. 

Happy IYM-2023!!