IFAD on India cropping pattern

IFAD on India cropping pattern

Subject: Economy

Context: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has pointed out that crops like Jowar (Sorghum) and millets (Bajra and Ragi), have often been sidelined in India in favour of monocrop cultures like wheat and rice

Concept:

Millets

• The government has renamed jowar, bajra, ragi and other millets as “Nutri Cereals”, dispensing with the nomenclature “coarse cereals”.
• Millets comprising Sorghum (Jowar), Pearl Millet (Bajra), Finger Millet (Ragi/Mandua), Minor Millets — Foxtail Millet (Kangani/Kakun), Proso Millet (Cheena), Kodo Millet (Kodo), Barnyard Millet (Sawa/Sanwa/ Jhangora), Little Millet (Kutki) and two Pseudo Millets (Blackwheat (Kuttu) and Ameranthus (Chaulai) which have high nutritive value are reffered as “Nutri Cereals”
• Millets hold great potential in contributing substantially to food and nutritional security of the country and thus they are not only a powerhouse of nutrients, but also are climate resilient crops and possess unique nutritional characteristics.
• To popularize the consumption of these nutritious cereals, the government has already decided to include millets in the Public Distribution System (PDS) with the objective of improving nutritional security of the country.
• Millets can be cultivated in dry regions. They are suited for Dryland agriculture (DLA) such as Ragi, Sorghum
• Major Millets producing States: Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

• IFAD is an international financial institution and specialized United Nations agency based in Rome, the UN’s food and agriculture hub. Since 1978, we have provided US$23.2 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached an estimated 518 million people.
• The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress will be held in France’s second-largest city on its Mediterranean coast. The event is organised every four years and is one of the biggest of its kind for biodiversity.
• IFAD’s investments in nature-based solutions aimed to promote a healthy biosphere, increasing productivity and improving food security, nutrition and resilience to climate change.