A G20 opportunity for millets

The heads of the apex agricultural research bodies of the G20 countries, who are holding a three-day conference in Varanasi from Monday (April 17-19), have their task cut out for them. They need to devise a science-based strategy to confront the challenges faced by agriculture, which are becoming all the more formidable with time. While the requirements for plant-based food, feed, fuel, and fibre are growing rapidly, the farm sector’s capacity to satisfy these needs is getting constrained. This is largely the result of the shrinkage and steady degradation of arable land, overexploitation of natural resources, dwindling biodiversity, and huge post-harvest losses. The situation is being exacerbated by several other factors, such as pressure on prices of food and fertilisers due to supply disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict; increased frequency of unusual weather events like heat and cold waves, droughts, and floods; and growing menace of pests and diseases.

Besides, the Covid-19 pandemic, the after-effects of which still persist, has aggravated food insecurity at global level and, more so, at local level in several developing and food-deficient countries, especially those relying heavily on imports to meet their domestic demand for food, fertilisers, and fuel. The count of hungry or undernourished people is estimated to have surged by 150 million due to causes related directly or indirectly to the pandemic.

On the other hand, the number of crops which constitute the food basket has shrunk drastically. Though there are thousands of plants that yield edible produce, less than 40 are cultivated on a commercially significant scale or traded internationally. In fact, the bulk of the food requirements of the global population is now met just by three crops —rice, wheat, and maize. Any disruption in the supply of these crops, due to natural disasters, pests, diseases, or any other factor, can wreck the food system, jeopardising food security. In any case, with business as usual, the goal of ending all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030 (the Sustainable Development Goal No-2) would be hard to meet.

The broad theme of the conference, according to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director-General Himanshu Pathak, is “sustainable agriculture and food systems for healthy people and planet”. Under this, four areas have been identified for deliberations and possible multilateral cooperation. These include better use of science and technology in strengthening food security and improving nutrition; enhancing agriculture’s resilience against climate change; greater digitisation of the farm sector; and promoting public-private partnership in agricultural research and development (R&D). A significant part of the host country’s agenda for this meet would be to underscore the role the hitherto neglected and underutilised food crops, particularly millets, can play in diversifying the food menu, improving nutrition, mitigating the impact of climate change on agriculture, and securing the livelihood of small farmers subsisting on less fertile, degraded, and non-irrigated lands. The basic philosophy behind this move is that while technology- and inputs-driven increase in the productivity of the three main cereals — rice, wheat, and maize — has ensured adequate availability of food, the low yields of the underexploited grain crops offer an opportunity to boost the supplies of relatively healthy foods at low costs. These crops have already established their ability to survive in adverse agro-climatic conditions without much public investment in research on their genetic improvement and better cultivation technologies, and private investment (read farmers’ spending) in inputs like fertilisers, pesticides, and irrigation. Another notable point is that the gains from investment in R&D on fine cereals like rice and wheat have now started slowing because their yields are plateauing. But in the case of millets and other neglected cereals, the scope for productivity enhancement is enormous and relatively easy to tap, thanks to the new breeding techniques.

With this end in view, India has mooted a new initiative to strengthen R&D on millets and other uncared-for but more nutritious and climate-resilient food crops. This project, entitled “millet and other ancient grains international research initiative”, and nicknamed MAHARISHI, would involve the establishment of mechanisms to interlink research institutions working on different crops and coordinate their research on breeding for productivity increase and disease and pest management. It would also endeavour to create web platforms to connect researchers, deliver the latest information of interest to scientists and the general public, and offer rewards and prizes to young scientists and entrepreneurs to encourage research and awareness. This institution could initially be set up at the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR), to facilitate intimate cooperation and collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), situated close-by in Patancheru, Telangana. The secretariat of this body could be rotated among the member countries of the G20. If this proposal is adopted at the G20 chief farm scientists’ meeting, it would prove a boon for the development of millets and other useful food crops which are not receiving the R&D attention they rightly deserve.

surinder.sud@gmail.com