The universalisation of consumption of rice and wheat and the resultant marginalisation of millets has meant that agriculture and food remains confined to just a third of the arable land in the country as paddy and wheat need irrigation, which is scarce.
Millets, which are suitable for dryland farming, are no longer in demand. There is no minimum support price for ragi or bajra or oats nor is there any procurement for these. In fact, even for paddy, which came as an official replacement for millet-based diets across the nation after independence, procurement is restricted to just two or three states. Therefore, including millets in the government procurement schedule is something that will have to wait several years, and will mean a return to millet-based cooking.
Already, there is a movement in this direction, with more and more farmers lured to this low input, and often organic, farming. Last week, farmer women from Andhra Pradesh presented in Delhi the success story of millet farming that was done in a unique way