Millets have finally arrived on the global scene. With 2023 being declared as the International Year of Millets, by the United Nations, the spotlight is on millets. While half a billion people across the globe consume millets as a traditional food, it has taken decades, for it to get its due recognition. Thanks to the efforts of Indian government, which proposed the declaration of International Year.
With the announcement of the International Year of Millets, there has been a lot of programmes and initiatives driven to promote millet production, processing and value addition. The support will go a long way in making communities revive and restore the lost millets in the production and on the plates. Evidences show that when promotion is done on a mission mode and with the government support, there is lot that could be achieved. Odisha millet mission is one such inspiring example. However, caution need to be exercised to see that the millet crops are not be commercialised to such an extent that it ceases to be a poorman’s crop, anymore. While focusing on improving productivity, one should not lose the enormous crop diversity that we possess, presently in millets.
Hope you find this issue interesting. Continue to share your experiences on millets, as we too would love to celebrate the Year of millets, by sharing your experiences all round the year. We await your feedback and also request you to continue to support the programme, as before.
4. Editorial
6. Women-led institutions reviving millet cropping systems in Odisha
Ranchitha Sivaram and Sangeeta Behera
11. Millets Seed System – An experience from Odisha millets Mission
Susanta Sekhar Choudhury, Biswa Sankar Das, Pulak Ranjan Nayak, Abhishek Pradhan, Bikash Das
17. Farmers conserve rare species of kodo millets
R.K.Prajapati, B. S. Kirar and Yogranjan
19. In the news
22. Revival of millets – Ensuring food and nutritional security
Ravi Shankar Behera
25. Millet production – A mutual learning experience
Surabhi
27. New Books
28. Sources
29. Revival of millets in North East India
Prabal Sen, Patrick Hansda, Pradipta Kishore Chand and Haridas VR
33. Decentralized small millet processing
Dwiji Guru
