NUTRIE CEREALS

Subject: Health

Context: As the government sets to achieve its agenda of a malnutrition-free India and doubling of farmers’ incomes, the promotion of the production and consumption of nutri-cereals seems to be a policy shift in the right direction.

Concept:

Millets

• Millet is common term to categorize small-seeded grasses that are often termed nutri-cereals or dryland-cereals.
• It mainly includes sorghum, ragi, pearl millet, small millet, proso millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet etc.
• The three major millet crops currently growing in India are jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet) and ragi (finger millet).
• Major producers include Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.

Benefits

• They are adapted to harsh environment of semi-arid tropics.
• They require low or no purchased inputs, thus they are backbone for dry land agriculture.
• Millets are nutritionally superior to wheat and rice owing to their higher levels of protein with more balanced amino acid profile, crude fibre and minerals such as Iron, Zinc, and Phosphorous
• Millets are important staple cereal crop for millions of small holder dryland farmers.
• They offer nutrition, resilience, income and livelihood for farmers even in difficult times.

Additional Information:

• Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has endorsed India’s call for declaring 2023 as the “International Year of Millets”.