About Us
Vision:
“ To know and proclaim, not to argue and win”. “Together we form the garden”. “To dare, to search, to seek, to find and not to yield”.
Mission:
- To encourage and help farmers produce quality millet.
- To provide support in value additions.
- To promote millets for quality living.
- To create awareness about the positive millets among the producers and consumers.
- To become torch bearers of environmental protection through the cultivation of mullets.
- To serve as a knowledge platform.
- To encourage Self Help Groups ( SHGs) and other groups to lease fallow lands and abandoned land for the cultivation of millets.
- To facilitate the study tours of progressive millet cultivators to core areas of millet farming in India and abroad.
- To join forces with the COP and SDGs of the UN to fight climate change to achieve carbon neutrality and the empowerment of women.
- To conduct awareness programmes in schools, colleges, local self-government bodies like panchayats, NGOs, Social organizations like Lions, Rotaries, NSS of educational institutions etc by organizing essay and or elocution competitions.
Millets – Backdrop
With the UN General Assembly declaring the year 2023 as the international year of Millets (IYM), there is greater interest in reviving millets.
Milllets are coarse cereals. Rice and wheat do not stand anywhere in front of millets judged by their health benefits. They are free from the fattening gluten found in wheat. It is very challenging as some 768 million people in th e world are beset with malnutrition. In India, some 200 million are malnourished causing us great concern.
There are positive millets, neutral millets and negative millets. While wheat and rice are considered negative grains, foxtail, Kodo, Barnyard, Brown top, and little millets are classified as positive millets.
Positive gains contain dietary fibre, proteins, minerals, essential amino acids, medicinal values, healing qualities, and therapeutic benefits in abundance.
Negative millets have fewer health benefits than positive ones but do not harm the body anyway. Examples are Pearl Millet (Bajra), Finger Millet (Ragi), Proso Millet, and Sorghum Millet. Negative millet grains have a dietary fibre of less than 2%. They are less beneficial for the body and difficult to digest by the body.
Millets are important crops in the semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa (especially in India, Mali, Nigeria, and Niger), with 97% of millet production in developing countries.
Millets were in use from the time of Indus Valley civilization, say some 3000 years ago. Some authors opined that millets were in use for the last 5000 years. They are eco – friendly and need less water and fertilizers and can grow in dry and semi-arid soils with ease. Major millets grown in India include Jowar, Bajara and Ragi. This constitute some 80 percent of the millets grown in India. Minor millets include foxtail barnyard, kodo, and brown tops among others. Being one of the first crops to be domesticated in India, millets are currently farmed in more than 130 countries and is a staple diet for more than 500 million people in Asia and Africa. India is a world leader in the production of millets with 40 per cent share. The current market for millets according to the IIMR ( International Institute of Millets Research) is $ 9 billion. By 2025 it may touch $ 25 billion.
India produces some 16 million tonnes of millets every year.
We should aim to make the International Year of Millets a people’s movement. And that is where the role of community organizations and NGOs become critical.
Millets are eco- friendly and the very best bet against malnutrition and starvation in a fast- food regime.
Millets are highly fibrous and the cheapest source of antioxidant food for the poor and the marginalized. Its cultivation is a sure bet to ensure food security and nutrition security coupled with the empowerment of women.
This is a golden opportunity for us to save our planet from the impending tragedy of famine and hunger and to fight the threats of climate change. The question is, “ to be or not to be” as time and tide wait for none.
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GMF
Creates awareness about the positive millets among the producers and consumers
In order to revive the demand of millets in India, there is need to enable to bring all the stakeholders in production to consumption system value chain on a common platform and link poor dry land farmers with market and the consumers at large.
GMF
Serves as a knowledge platform
GMF
Facilitates the study tours of progressive millet cultivators to core areas of millet farming in India and abroad
GMF
Encourages Self Help Groups ( SHGs) and other groups to lease fallow lands and abandoned land for the cultivation of millets
GMF
Conducts awareness programmes in schools, colleges, local self-government bodies like panchayats, NGOs, Social organizations
GMF
Joins forces with the COP and SDGs of the UN to fight climate change to achieve carbon neutrality and the empowerment of women
Millets - An introduction
Millets are a traditional staple food of the dry land regions of the world. In India, millets are grown on about 17 million ha with annual production of 18 million tonnes and contribute 10 percent to the country’s food grain basket.
Millets are a group of highly variable small seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Millets are important crops in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa (especially in India and Nigeria), with 97% of millet production in developing countries. The crop is favoured due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high-temperature conditions. The most widely grown millet ispearl millet, which is an important crop in India and parts of Africa. Finger millet, Proso millet, and Foxtail millet are also important crop species. In the developed world, millets are less important. For example, in the United States only Proso millet is significant, and it is mostly grown for bird seed. While millets are indigenous to many parts of the world, it is believed that they had an evolutionary origin in tropical western Africa, as that is where the greatest number of both wild and cultivated forms exist. Millets have been important food staples in human history, particularly in Asia and Africa. They have been in cultivation in East Asia for the last 10,000 years.
Sorghum and millets have been important staples in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa for centuries. These crops are still the principal sources of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals for millions of the poorest people in these regions. Sorghum and millets are grown in harsh environments where other crops grow or yield poorly. They are grown with limited water resources and usually without the application of any fertilizers or other inputs by a multitude of small-holder farmers in many countries. Therefore, they are mostly consumed by disadvantaged groups; they are often referred to as “coarse grain” or “poor people’s crops”. They are not usually traded in international markets or even in local markets in many countries. The farmers seldom, therefore, have an assured market in the event of surplus production. The cereals considered in this publication include sorghum, Pearl millet, Finger millet, Foxtail millet, Common millet, Little millet, Barnyard millet and Kodo millet. Teff (Eragrostis tef), which is extensively cultivated in Ethiopia, is not strictly a millet and is therefore not included. Other millets such as fonio (Digitaria exilis) and Job’s tears (Coix lancryma -jobi) are of minor importance.