Punjab can sow seeds of a millet revolution D evinder Sharma, The Tribune India | January 14, 2023 https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/punjab-can-sow-seeds-of-a-millet-revolution-470147
Punjab has a double advantage by incorporating millets in its crop diversification scheme. First, it will lead to setting its own house in order by getting away from the environmentally devastating consequences of the Green Revolution. Second, it will trigger a huge demand for millets that can be replicated elsewhere.
Given that paddy requires between 3,000 to 5,000 litres of water for producing one kg of rice (depending upon the agro-climatic zones) and millets normally require about 200 litres, an effective price that augments the water-saving potential of millets, environmental protection with hardly any application of chemical fertiliser and pesticides and nutritional superiority need to be acknowledged and accounted for.
Comments on RRA Network: D K Sadana:Punjab ought to grow millets in the Kandi areas [semi-hilly areas towards south west; foot-hills of Himalayas] as these are not suitable for rice/wheat. Kandi areas across Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Nawan-Shahr, Mohali and Ropar] are more promising for millets. ..OMM [Odisha Millet Mission]has well demonstrated raising not only the production (especially the horizontal spread), but also consumption by making millets a part of the
state policy and state sponsored school diet.
On Pricing: Ajay Jhakar of BKS Hope someone can do a calculation of what should be the farmgate price for different millets at which farmers in Punjab will diversify from Paddy,
everything else remaining the same.
Mihir Shah: 1. the price should be raised across states (not just in Punjab),
wherever it make sense to diversify to include millets in the cropping
pattern
2. the cost should be borne by the centre, with states topping it up as
per requirement
3. this is a small price to pay for the huge benefits conferred by the
shift towards millets in terms of water, health, nutrition, soil health and
income
4. price incentive is not the only reason farmers would grow millets.
ensuring regular demand for them by inclusion in ICDS, MDMS and PDS is even
more important so that decentralised public procurement of nutri-cereals
becomes a regular feature of state policy. even now public procurement is
overwhelmingly dominated by rice and wheat (95%)
5. the argument is not to do away with rice and wheat but to diversify
public procurement to include more nutri-cereals, pulses and oilseeds in a
location-appropriate manner, especially given that India has such a rich
depository of these crops, and to avoid blunders like palm oil monocultures
etc
Procurement: Shirish Joshi 1.Odisha millet mission experience shows that farmers are willing to shift to Ragi because of assured procurement through FPOs which have reached out to farmers located in distant areas. The current MSP is attractive for
them . However this Ragi is not natural / organic necessarily.
2. For non Ragi millets in Odisha there is no procurement price and system to procure ( jawar ,bajra are not popular in odishas as much as they are in Maharashtra). Hence the spread of other Millets has not taken off the same way as ragi. This underscores the importance of demand .
3 If government of India decides to let the state governments to procure the entire state consumption including PDS, ICDS, MDM,Prison ( odisha haa started supplying ragi in prison diet recently ) etc it will reduce procurement from Punjab. That will nudge/ force/ motivate Punjab farmers to move away from government procurement. As Kavita ji has said it needs a transition package for Punjab farmers.
4. Shifting to natural / organic agriculture whether for millets or other crops is more complicated. Natural farming will need a level playing field vis a vis chemical farming. That would mean a series of another set of measures.