Sreelatha Menon's column "Health food for Re 1" (Ear To The Ground, September 29) is correct from the nutrition point of view but the suggestion is neither practical nor viable. Consider this: unlike wheat, whose production is seven times more than millet, the production of millet has remained stagnant and has, in fact, declined from 143.5 million tonne (mt) in 2003 to 11.5 mt in 2013, whereas in the corresponding period the production of wheat has increased from 65.76 mt to 88.67 mt. The procurement of coarse grains was only 35,934 tonne in 2012 and 71,829 tonne in 2013 (provisional) and corresponding data on wheat is 28.33 mt in 2012 and 38.14 mt.
As much as the policymakers would like to provide millets to improve nutrition, the fact remains that there is no millet available with procurement agencies such as the Food Corporation of India. For a water-stressed nation, millets have not received the support it deserved from the government. Rice needs 5,000 litre water a kg but millet can grow one kg with just 200 litres. The environmental factors are cleanly in favour of millet and some millets such as the foxtail millet need no pesticide during production or storage. From the health point of view also, millets are more nutritious.
M M Gurbaxani, Bangalore
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