The comeback of the Millet!

Once considered a diet of the tribal people, Millet has travelled long and found its way onto the plates of the upper class and five-star hotels. 

In the 90s, farmers who grew Millet for generations had to turn their faces from it, terming it as loss-making. With the passage of time, people got to know its inherent nutritional value and started adopting it. Soon the items prepared from Millet gave the so-called fast food a run for their money. These days pizzas, momos, different kinds of pastries like ‘manda,’ ‘kakara’ etc., and soup prepared from Millet are selling like hot cakes. 

This paradigm shift in the way Millet is being seen has proved to be a boon for the traditional Millet farmers in the state. 

Take Hemsagar Behera as a case in point. 

Millet cultivation has made Behera a ‘crorepati’, and given him recognition as an industrialist.  

According to him, Millet was grown by his forefathers. But then, its demand was next to nothing. They would sell it at Rs 4 to 5 a kilogram. Things came to such a pass that they eventually had to give up their cultivation after 1995. 

Thanks to the promotion by government and private agencies, people got to know about its nutritional values and started consuming it. And, there is no looking back for the Millet. All from the rich to the poor have fallen in love with it. 

Also read: G20 Summit: World leaders to get a taste of lip-smacking millets from Odisha

Keeping the growing demand for Millet in view, Behera set up a company named Maa Sunadei Producers’ Company in 2019. As of now, as many as 1200 farmers are supplying Millet to his company. 

“Maa Sunadei Producers’ Company has taken the responsibility of providing market facility to Millet growers. We are now planning to send it to other states and foreign countries. My age is 56. I have set a target to achieve a turnover of Rs 6 crore at the age of 60,” he added, with a sense of confidence on his face. 

Apart from Behera, there are many farmers who are now supplying sweets and other delicacies made of Millet to malls and food courts and in turn, earning good bucks. And the food lovers are also falling in love with these delicacies.  

“Since its nutritional value is high, all including children and even diabetes patients can eat Mandia ‘dahi vada’, without worrying about their health,” said a female millet business owner, who set up her stall at the International Millet Convention organised at Janata Maidan in Bhubaneswar. 

“The ‘dahi vada’ prepared from Millet is in no way inferior to Cuttack dahi vada. Similarly, the taste of their chhaach is mind-blowing,” said a food lover.