Emulate, empower
According to OMM website, millet farmers get a maximum incentive of Rs 26,500 per hectare over a period of five years. If the method of cultivation used is System of Millets Intensification for ragi and non-ragi millets, incentives are Rs 10,000, Rs 7,500, Rs 5,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,000 from the first to fifth year, in that order. For ragi cultivation using line sowing or line transplanting method, incentives are Rs 7,500, Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000, respectively, in the first three years and Rs 2,000 in the next two years.
Besides providing tractors, weeders and other equipment to farmers, OMM has optimised mandi procurement mechanism for millets. “OMM aims at providing protection against losses. Price benchmarking has been done for non-ragi millets, too. We are promoting both hybrid and local seed varieties based on the geographical conditions of the region,” says an OMM official, on condition of anonymity.
“Apart from PDS, millets have been included in ICDS and other government schemes,” the official adds, while mentioning how millets have been promoted at the anganwadi level. OMM has also attempted to introduce millets in hospital foods, hotel menus, gymnasiums and health and wellness centres.
The products made out of millets have undergone value addition. Women SHGs in the state have turned millets into an income idea. “A farmer in Odisha is better off because of OMM,” agrees the official.
A much-needed incentive
According to the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, “ecosystem services are the benefits that an ecosystem provides to the society through ecosystem functions, that is the capacity of natural processes and components to provide goods and services to satisfy human needs directly or indirectly.”
Sharma thinks farmers should get this incentive for taking up millet cultivation. “They should be incentivised and paid for the ecosystem services that they are providing to the society through millet agriculture. Millets are good for public health, environment and soil since they do not require any chemicals to grow,” he points out.
“Why cannot we give this minimum cost to the farmers for protecting the environment,” he questions, while stating that the United Nations Environmental Programme already has a framework in place for valuation of ecosystem services, but it has not been used for any crop till date in India.
Health benefits
Millets were a part of India’s staple diet up until a few years ago. Later, both urban and rural communities strayed away from their traditional diets and turned to wheat and rice. “The food plates in rural pockets of India looked much diversified before. People used to make rotis out of whichever millet was predominant in the region. For example, jowar [sorghum] or bajra [pearl millet] bhakri. But nowadays wheat and rice are distributed to them under different schemes,” Preetilata Gaikwad, manager, women empowerment and health, Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR).
Over 6,000 people attended the anaemia detection camps that Preetilata and Prithviraj Gaikwad, senior agriculture officer, climate resilient agriculture, WOTR, held in the villages of Maharashtra in 2021-2022. “Due to lack of good nutrition, pregnant women are increasingly being detected with iron deficiencies leading to anaemia,” they say.
Based on their field visits, the researchers observed that there was a shortage of food despite the distribution of rice and wheat free of cost under several schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. There were cases where women took home food from anganwadis allotted for a single person, but the whole family depended on it. Children could be snacking on packets of chips costing Rs 5 or 10 to fill their appetite, instead of a wholesome meal. Even adolescent girls were not getting periods regularly due to a lack of balanced diet.
“Millets such as ragi, bajra and jowar are rich in iron, calcium, magnesium and fibre. Including millets in the diet can help combat nutritional deficiencies, especially prevalent issues like iron-deficiency anaemia in pregnant women,” says Karishma Shah, a certified integrated nutritionist and health psychologist, when asked whether the high malnutrition levels in Maharashtra were connected with their non-consumption of millets.
On the impact of the International Year of Millets campaign, Sachin Jain says, “It certainly has started many conversations. We are in a transition phase. The solution is to optimise the processing of millets from production to consumption. Then it will successfully reach the demographic that needs it the most.” 101Reporters/SP
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