Farmers release Manifesto for Millets

With political parties gearing up for election year and setting up manifesto committees, millet farmers and non-governmental organisations working in dryland areas have come up with a Manifesto for Millets, listing out a set of demands to promote the dryland crops.

Though the manifesto, released here on Monday, will initially be targeted at the political parties in Telangana (which is going for early polls), it will be released nationally a few months later.

It asked the political parties to come out with an affirmative plan of action. “Every millet farmer should be given a string of incentives to grow millets. The incentives could include a bonus for producing affordable nutritious crops, a bonus for the water saved in agriculture by growing millets crops and bonus for hosting climate resilient crops,” P V Satheesh, Director of Deccan Development Society (DDS), told BusinessLine.

Talking on the Manifesto for Millets, he said all these measures would cost about Rs 10,000 an acre. “The Government can extend this support as long as the farmer grows millets on his or her land,” he said. He reminded that rainfed areas such as Telangana historically grew millets. “But wrong policies have led us to pursue low nutritional and high water intake crops like rice in recent years,” he said.

While appreciating the efforts to offer fine rice at a low price, he felt that these efforts would help in the short run. “But in the long run, offering millets to ration card holders would help,” he said.

He said millets need to be introduced in anganwadis and mid-day meals to help women and children in rural areas face the challenge of malnutrition.

Promote organic farming

The Manifesto said millet farmers follow organic farming, which helps in checking the chemical contamination of soil, water and food.

It wanted governments to implement the National Food Security Act, which recommends inclusion of at least seven kg of millets per ration card. “In Telangana, we have done a great disservice to our malnutritioned population by ignoring this recommendation. It is time that we build a strong correction in our food policy,” it said.

Citing the growing demand for millets in urban consumers, the Manifesto felt that the trend indicates the need for introduction of more millets and millet products in the market. “This will contribute significantly to the emergence of larger numbers of ecologically sensitive consumers,” it observed.

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