Ajay Bhuwalka, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Monk Private Limited shared his views on the millet sector in India in an exclusive conversation with AgroSpectrum.
How would you envisage the future of millets in India?
Millets are an ancient grain of India and was a staple grain before the green revolution. Most rural parts of the country still consume millets as their staple. We are very confident that millets will definitely find their way back into urban kitchens due to its immense health benefits. Post COVID, the consciousness of all people to lead a healthy lifestyle has gone up significantly. Thus, we are very confident that millet’s popularity will again touch new heights in coming years as people are getting more aware of their benefits.
With good transport facilities, strong marketing network and easy payment system, farmers will definitely be going to opt for millet cultivation. As we have mixers and table size coconut oil extractors at home, in the same way, technology to remove husk of millet at home will definitely increase the demand for millets.
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYOM). How will this development enhance the nexus of millets in the domestic and international market?
The IYOM announcement has given a lot of boosts in not only creating awareness about the importance and benefits of millets but also considerably improved the demand of millets across all channels both offline and online. Many startups have mushroomed to take advantage of this opportunity and thus further creating the market for millets especially in the urban spaces. The government promotional activities such as B2B meet and expos being conducted across the country and even abroad has undoubtedly helped to create national and international awareness and demand. Workshops conducted to spread the health benefits of millets bring new customers. Even at the grassroots level, functions conducted by the agriculture department by distributing seeds to spread the benefits of millets have encouraged new millet farmers.
Agriculture universities are conducting both online and off line programmes to spread awareness about business opportunities that millets provide to institutions and also to individuals. All these activities expect to bring new millet cultivators, new consumers, new traders and they will create an entire new ecosystem for millets and its production.
What steps should be taken to enhance awareness about millets and their benefits across the country?
There are numerous points of view on this topic, but my one and only request is for a national advertising campaign led by celebrities that will run for two years and be distributed in as many different media outlets and languages as possible. The campaign that Amitabh Bachchan ran to raise awareness about polio is an example of a campaign that is comparable. All brands will be able to reap the benefits of this, as it will undoubtedly provide a significant boost to the millet sector.
What are the major challenges that hampering the growth of millets industry in India?
There are a number of obstacles that are looming over the millets sector, includes Lack of awareness among customers, Inconsistent and fragmented supply of millets, Lack of trust among farmers, Shorter shelf life after primary processing, Inefficient agricultural practices and processing of millets, which ultimately results in an increase in costs.
The planting of minor millet presents a significant challenge. As the crop has to be planted in a very specific manner. The soil pattern and moisture levels should be appropriate. Even if a great number of newly educated farmers have come up to take on the challenge of farming minor millets, these seeds will not sprout unless the appropriate amount of moisture and soil type is available.
The Government of India has launched many key initiatives such as National Food Security (NFS) Act covering ‘coarse grains’, Millets made part of the National Food Security Mission etc. As per you, are these initiatives aligned rightly to enhance millet’s growth both in India and abroad?
I really feel these steps will take the industry in the right direction. Apart from these, I feel that there is still scope for rolling out some small initiatives such as –
· Making sure that millet seeds are easily available and the required sowing equipment system is readily accessible.
· Enhancing warehouse facilities
· Relaxation in export policy so that farmers and traders can benefit
· Spreading more awareness about millets so that young generation get attractive towards this lucrative industry.
Millets are mostly a part of the low external input sustainable agriculture (LEISA), investments in millet production systems in India usually remain lower than those for fine cereals – i.e. paddy and wheat. How can this perception be removed?
This impression of millet will undoubtedly shift if the demand from the urban population develops, as they would consume millets for the purpose of bettering their health and warding off diseases that are associated with lifestyle choices. Additionally, there is a powerful demand for technological innovation of a high quality in order to harvest millets without causing damage to fodder.
By Nitin Konde