Indian Currents Jan. 16-22, 2023 pp. 26-27: https://www.indiancurrents.org/article-towards-a-better-food-culture-j-prasant-palakkappillil-1511.php
An India Government initiative to observe 2023
as the year of millets was accepted by the UN. The subtitle goes thus: ‘unleashing
the potential of millets for well-being of people and the environment’. I would paraphrase it as: Millets for ONE
Health – of people and of planet.
Millets are collective group
of small seeded annual grasses that are grown as grain crops, primarily on
marginal land in dry areas of temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions.
Millets belong to the grass family, known for their
edible small-seeds, rightly translated in Malayalam as 'cheru dhanyangal'
(small cereals). whereas, Hindi dictionaries give equivalents like 'jondhri' and 'mota
anaj".
It formed the staple food for several millions
in India and across the world, especially those living in arid and semi-arid
regions. I made an effort to get a comprehensive list from various sources, and
I have arrived at this:
-
Bajra (Pearl Millet)
-
Barri (Proso or Common Millet)
-
Choti Kangni (Browntop Millet)Jhanghora/Sanwa (Barnyard Millet)
-
Jowar (Sorghum) or Great Millet
- Kangni/Kakum (Foxtail or Italian Millet)
- Kodra (Kodo Millet)
- Kutki/Shavan (Little Millet)
- Ragi (Finger Millet)
- Fonio (black and white) - one of the smallest grains, usually grown in
West Africa.
- Eragrostis Teff - a tiny Ethiopian grain, but rich in Calcium.
The last two appear to be confined to African terrains, whereas, the
rest of them are said to be available in India.
Some others listed are: amaranth millet (Rajgira), Buckwheat millet
(Kuttu) etc.
Research in Millets
At Solapur, Maharashtra, under Indian Council for Agricultural Research
(ICAR) Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR) has been established.
The research over the years have led to the development of high yielding and
hybrid varieties. But my fear is whether we will lose the original germplasms
in the concern for producing more.
Research in ancillary technologies has led to
developing machines that reduce the otherwise tedious task of extracting the
edible part of the 'tiny nutrition balls'.
Millet Crop World-wide
97% of millet production (and perhaps,
consumption as well) happens in developing countries indicative of its utility
for the vulnerable sections, facing food and nourishment challenges.
Africa is the millet leader, producing 489 lakh
tonnes from 423 lakh hectares, followed by Asia with 215 lakh tonnes from 163
lakh ha. Though US cultivates just 53 lakh ha, its productivity is almost
equivalent to that of the whole of Asia - 193 lakh tonnes! In India, production
is concentrated in 6 states, viz., Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. While the world-wide productivity is
1229 kilos/ha, India is marginally better with 1239/kilos per hectare. (This is
to be compared with the average productivity of wheat at around 4.5 tonnes per ha.,
and that of rice ranging from 3 to 6 tonnes per ha.)!
While production has shown a steady increase of
228% from the 1950s to 2020, there is a steady decline in the total area cultivated
since green revolution by 56%. And millet share to the global food basket
has shrunk to 6% from 20% of the pre-green revolution days.
Advantages - A Means towards One Health (People, Livestock, Planet)
“Millets are incredible
ancestral crops with high nutritional value. Millets can play an important role
and contribute to our collective efforts to empower smallholder farmers,
achieve sustainable development, eliminate hunger, adapt to climate change,
promote biodiversity, and transform agrifood systems,” FAO Director-General QU
Dongyu
The attractions of this
diverse crop varieties are their potential as a climate change resilient crop,
requiring less water, which can grow in arid and semi-arid regions, lesser
growth inputs when compared to the dominant crops like rice, wheat or maize and
which needs and lesser duration. The high yielding varieties may require
greater inputs, and now about 80 hybrid varieties are available in India.
Advantages from People's Health Angle:
- Gluten
free grains
- Lower
blood glucose response, making it a diabetes preventive food.
- It
induces production of phase-2 detoxifying enzymes thus reducing cancer
risk.
- Millets
prevent the oxidation of low-density lipoproteins reducing lipase activity
and hence hypertension occurrence.
- Nutri-cereals
on account of the richer content of minerals, vitamins, anti-oxidants and
fibre (detailed analysis in: https://millets.res.in/millets_info.php)
Advantages from Planet Health Angle:
- Dryland
crop with greater crop duration
- Minimal
water and other purchased input requirements (but responsive to higher
inputs)
- Resilient
to climate change (C4 plant) and an ideal contingent plant.
- Sustainable
future food crop with multiple potentials - food (nutritional security),
fodder, forage, fuel (energy).
Challenge: As life-style diseases are on the increase, doctors have begun to
recommend millets as a dietary substitute, and there is much more demand for
this than before. When it comes processed and attractively packaged, with
the increased health benefits, they are now found to be more expensive than the
dominant foodgrains like wheat or rice. On the other hand, this increased
income does not get shared with the basic and marginal farmers who are involved
in its production. A solution to this has to be found.
Milleting our Lives in 2023 - Suggestions for
Local or Institutional Actions
- Identifying
and presenting 'millet kitchen' - the various foods that can be prepared
from millets. Local Millet Food Fests.
- Millet
Expos - Presenting, familiarising and storing various varieties of millets
- original and hybrid collections
- Health
benefits unique to each variety of millet could be identified and
documented.
- Demo-plots
by educational/religious institutions, voluntary development organisations
and local government bodies.
- Agri(millet)-cooperatives
for seed-banks, credits, storage, fair marketing and promoting organic
production of millets. Preventive action against seed monopolies and
genetic modification (GMO).
I have made my choice with inclusion of the
attractive red Ragi (finger millets) in porridge/dosa/puttu forms
in my regular diet beginning with Jan. 1, 2023. How about you?
References:
https://www.wellcurve.in/blog/different-types-of-millets/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millet
https://www.mygov.in/campaigns/millets/
https://www.nutricereals.dac.gov.in/IYoM2023/Data/M%20Health%20benefits.jpg
https://www.nutricereals.dac.gov.in/IYoM2023/Data/M%20USP%20Millets.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonio
No comments:
Post a Comment