Throughout ages, many rituals have been associated with millet cultivation and women are to be thanked for this
As
millets make a comeback to our fields and plates, the formal launch of
an extensive campaign beginning from Pune to promote these nutri cereals
assumes great significance. According to B Dayakar Rao, principal
scientist at the Indian Institute of Millets Research, "The Pune event
is basically an extension of the National Millet Mission mooted by the
Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare across 14
states."
Historically, India always had a rich association with
millets. But in the past six decades, India’s agricultural policy
favoured rice and wheat over millets. Professor Martin Jones, Department
of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, blames food
standardisation for the disappearance of millets from India’s food
plates.
“The primary driver is the market, which optimises food
profit, through an increasing specialisation in a few market-friendly
crops. This is opposed to food security, which relies on a greater
diversity of resources that don’t all fail at the same time. Currently,
market-friendly cereals are wheat, rice and maize, which fuel over 50
per cent of the global food chain,” Jones says.
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