Finger Millet in Tribal Farming Systems Contributes to Increased Availability of Nutritious Food at Household Level: Insights from India

Abstract

The challenge to food production posed by climate aberrations has been seeing increased attention to reviving millet-based farming systems. Millets are climate-resilient and nutritionally equivalent or superior to most other cereals, making them a favourable crop to address the prevalence of malnutrition. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is among the major crops cultivated in the undulating terrains of Koraput district of Odisha, India. It is consumed as a staple food and drink by the local tribal communities. However, over the years there has been rapid decline both in area and in production of the crop leading to reduced grain availability for household consumption. With a view to increase the productivity, the study assessed the effects of possible combinations of crop varieties and agronomic practices that can be customized for finger millet production system in Koraput over 2 years (2015-2017). The study focused on crop productivity, profitability and labour requirement along with nutrition awareness initiatives. On-farm trial with improved variety 'GPU-67' with line transplanting and recommended fertilizer management in 2015-2016 showed 31 and 50% higher grain yield and profit than that of farmers' practice (1579 kg ha-1 and`13,730 ha-1 , respectively) and was counted as a recommended cultivation package. In 2016-2017, the recommended practice showed 60% higher grain yield and 1.16 times more profit than farmers' practice (1575 kg ha-1 and`14,000 ha-1 , respectively) (P \ 0.000). Both total and women's labour requirement per ha was lower under recommended practice. An endline survey in 2017 revealed improved household consumption over baseline.

Genetic variability of panicle architecture in traditional finger millets from Koraput valley of Eastern Ghats for crop improvement

“…Thus, it is indicated that there was su cient variation of panicle characteristics in the studied genotypes, which provide ample scope for selecting superior genotypes and could be utilized in future breeding programs. Similarly, physiological variability in different underutilized nger millets from various parts of India also reported earlier by Panda et al (2020b), Pradhan et al (2019) and, Kumari and Singh (2015).…”

“…However, very little information is available on genetic variation of traditional nger millet genotypes of Eastern Ghats, particularly from Koraput. Koraput valley of Eastern Ghats of India is one of the agro-biodiversity hot spots in India and home to a huge number of traditional nger millets (Pradhan et al 2019). This region with varied agro-climatic conditions surrounded with thick forest and steep mountainous ranges favorable for millet cultivation by local tribes (Panda et al 2020b).…”

“…The traditional varieties grown by the farmers are likely to be lost shortly if measures are not taken to protect the valuable genetic resources. Recently, some research highlighted the cultivation practice, nutritional and genetic potentiality of nger millets from Koraput (Pradhan et al 2019;Panda et al 2020a, b). However, there is limited phenotypic knowledge in regards to panicle phenotyping and yield related traits.…”

The COVID19 pandemic crisis and the relevance of a farm-system-for-nutrition approach

“…The FSN design focused on increasing the availability and access to nutrient-rich foods by promoting: the cultivation of millets and pulses suited to the region; nutrition-oriented gardens of fruits and vegetables that grow locally; access to animal foods through poultry and fishery; and nutrition awareness. The viability of recommended practices in terms of economic return was demonstrated through on-farm trials, demonstrating the potential for adoption by farmers and the sustainability of the intervention (Pradhan et al 2019). An endline survey in late 2017, three years after the intervention, revealed an increase in availability and consumption of millets, pulses and vegetables by households, an increase in proportion of households consuming more than 70 per cent of recommended allowance of all food groups, and an improvement in household dietary diversity (MSSRF 2019).…”

Community Self-Organisation from a Social-Ecological Perspective: ‘Burlang Yatra’ and Revival of Millets in Odisha (India)

“…The dominant narrative underpinning the revitalisation of millets in Odisha has focused primarily on developing and/or strengthening millets agri-food value chain by bringing back specific millets into the food chain through increasing acreage and productivity, facilitating processing and distribution, setting up micro-enterprise units and market creation, and increasing consumption by including food made from millets in various state-run nutritional security programmes, and through provision of incentives and support programmes [26,30,31]. This has certainly revived millet farming to be an attractive option, especially from supply and value chain perspectives, but it cannot be overlooked that it is still narrowly framed within productivity and market parameters used for monocrops.…”