Why in News?

• The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi has called for a mass movement to promote production of millets as the nation will celebrate International Year for Millets in 2023. In this regard, the PM along with other ministers attended a lunch which was organised by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare and comprised dishes that were made out of millets.

The International Year of Millets, 2023:

• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets On March 3, 2021.
• The proposal was moved by India and was supported by more than 70 countries.
• The objective behind this proposal was to increase awareness about millets contribution towards food security and nutrition, its sustainable production and enhance investment in the related R&D.
• FAO of the United Nations, organized an opening ceremony for the International Year of Millets in Rome, Italy.

What are millets?

• Millet is a collective term for a number of small-seeded annual grasses cultivated as grain crops, primarily on marginal lands in dry areas in temperate, subtropical and tropical regions.
• They include cereals like sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), foxtail millet (kangni/ Italian millet), little millet (kutki), kodo millet, finger millet (ragi/ mandua) etc.
• There is evidence for consumption of millets in the Indus-Sarasvati civilisation (3,300 to 1300 BCE), they were the first crops to be domesticated.

Millets around the world:

• Millets are now grown in more than 130 countries, and are the traditional food for more than half a billion people in Asia and Africa.
• Globally, sorghum (jowar) is the biggest millet crop. The major producers of jowar are the United States, China, Australia, India, Argentina, Nigeria, and Sudan.
• Bajra is another major millet crop and countries like India and some other African countries are its major producers.
• Major millet importing countries in the world include Indonesia, Belgium, Japan, Mexico, Italy, USA, UK, Brazil and Netherlands.

Millets in India:

• Millets are mainly a kharif crop in India. During 2018-19, three millet crops i,e. bajra (3.67%), jowar (2.13%), and ragi (0.48%), accounted for about 7 per cent of the gross cropped area in the country.
• As per DGCIS data, India has total export of millets around 159,331.16 metric tonnes against 147, 501.08 metric tonnes last year, thus the country registered a growth of 8.02% in millet exports.
• India’s major export destination are UAE, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Oman, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, UK and USA.

Way Forward:

• The Indian Prime Minister in his message at FAO touched upon raising awareness to create ‘Millet Mindfulness’ highlighting the crucial role of institutions and individuals.
• International Year of Millets’ is set to provide a unique opportunity to increase global production, ensure efficient processing, consumption, and subsequently promote better utilization of crop rotations.
• The extended trade of millets on a global level can encourage better connectivity throughout food systems while also promoting it as a key component of the food basket.