Production and cultivation dynamics of millets in India

Abstract

Millets gained a great attention at the global level in 2023 which is celebrated as the “International Year of Millets” to create awareness to eventually promote consumption and production. An attempt is made here to understand the cultivation and production dynamics of millets as influenced by their demand and supply. We also assess challenges and emerging opportunities to make millets more productive, competitive, and relevant to future farming. Millets registered a 60% decline in area and a 200% rise in productivity, but production has remained the same during the last seven decades. The demand of millets decreased as food due to greater incentives (purchasing grain at a pre-determined price) and policies (distribution of grains to the public at a subsidized rate) in favor of wheat and rice. Millets would play a greater role in future agriculture due to challenges posed by climate change, limited water supply, and reduced agro-biodiversity. This would need a much greater intensity of investment in millet research and adequate support as extended to wheat and rice. Increased emphasis on their genetic improvement and agronomic management is required to develop cultivars, using new tools and technologies, with high production potential and adequate environmental adaptation to make millets competitive with other crops. Mainstreaming the nutritional traits in millet breeding is also critically important to develop high-yielding cultivars with improved grain quality traits. Promoting millet consumption would remain the key issue for increasing their demand as food, feed, and industrial raw materials through policies and awareness programs. Strengthening of value chain will help in diversifying agri-food production system and creating an ecosystem for millet promotion.