• UGI USER
  • Dec 23, 2022
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What are millets, the grains on PM Narendra Modi’s lunch menu?

Why in the News?

  • Recently, the Prime Minister of India, along with fellow parliamentarians across party lines, enjoyed a lunch made of millets to raise awareness on millets.

Millets

  • About:
    • Sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), foxtail millet (kangni/Italian millet), little millet (kutki), kodo millet, finger millet (ragi/mandua), proso millet (cheena/common millet), barnyard millet (sawa/ sanwa/jhangora), and brown top millet are all small (korale).
    • Many of the types that are now produced all over the world originated in India.
    • Indigenous forms of the crop are also grown in West Africa, China, and Japan.
  • Global Scenario:
    • Sorghum (jowar) is the largest millet crop grown worldwide.
    • United States, China, Australia, India, Argentina, Nigeria, and Sudan are the top jowar producers.
    • Another important millet crop is called bajra, and certain African nations as well as India grow a lot of it.

  • Production in India:
    • Millets are mostly a kharif crop in India.
    • Three millet crops, bajra (3.67%), jowar (2.13%), and ragi (0.48%), made up nearly 7% of the nation’s total planted area in 2018–19.
    • Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh are the principal growing regions for jowar.

  • Consumption of millets- It was reported mainly from these states:
    • Gujarat (jowar and bajra),
    • Karnataka (jowar and ragi),
    • Maharashtra (jowar and bajra),
    • Rajasthan (bajra), and
    • Uttarakhand (ragi).
  • Benefits:
    • Millets are water-efficient crops that use a lot less water than wheat and rice.
    • can be grown without additional irrigation in rainfed environments.
    • They are very nourishing.
    • Millets have higher levels of protein, fat, and fibre. They have 7–12% protein, 2-5% fat, 6–75% carbs, and 15-20% dietary fibre.
2023: the Year of Millets

●       In 2021, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets.

●       The proposal, moved by India, was supported by 72 countries.

●       Aim: Spreading awareness about millets, inspiring stakeholders to improve production and quality, and attracting investments.

Nutri Cereals

●       These are certain varieties of millets.

●       Declared as Nutri Cereals by the Agriculture Ministry for the purposes of production, consumption, and trade.

●       These include Jowar, bajra, ragi/ mandua, the minor millets — kangani/ kakun, cheena, kodo, sawa/ sanwa/ jhangora, and kutki — and the two pseudo millets, buckwheat (kuttu) and amaranth (chaulai).