Millet promotion must, but Odisha also needs homegrown Onion, Potato and Drumsticks more urgently

One serious issue relates to the needs of the farmers in Odisha. Whether Ragi would ensure adequate return to make a farmer voluntarily give up option to take up cotton or maize or niger farming needs to be examined carefully.

Millet promotion must, but Odisha also needs homegrown Onion, Potato and Drum-Sticks more urgently

India’s five major millet-producing states are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Among millets, Bajra accounts for the largest production (about 11 million MT) which is over 60% of India’s total millet production (18 million MT). Jowar is the second largest millet contributing about 5 million MTs accounting for over 26.5% of total millet production. Ragi (Finger Millet), known as Mandia in Odisha, has a share of 12% to total millet production of the country. India produces about 2 million MTs of Ragi (11% of total millet production). Two percent of the total millet production is from small millets. Eighty percent of Asia’s millet production is from India. India’s global share is about 20%. Up to 1965-70, India’s millet production contributed 20% to country’s food basket. Over a period of time, production of wheat and rice increased while production of millets dwindled. Now millets contribute about 6% of the food basket.

Odisha produces very small quantity of millets. Largest contribution comes from Mandia (Ragi) with the crop grown in 1.17 lakh hectare. Total production of Ragi is 1.29 lakh MT with productivity at 1102 kg per hectare. Odisha contributes 2.15% to country’s Ragi production while Karnataka, the largest producer, produces over 66%, followed by Tamil Nadu (11.07%) and Uttarakhand 8.73%. Area under Bajra and Jowar in Odisha is negligible. Rice is, however, grown in Odisha in over 39 lakh ha. State production in 2019-20 was 96.37 lakh MT and productivity was 2453 kg/ha.