The Milleteer

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Millet Fest rekindles layman’s love for coarse cereals: The first-ever Millet Festival after Telangana’s Formation

Uttarakhand farmer’s seed saving movement holds promise : Mr. Vijay Jardhari, a small farmer & founder of “Beej Bachao”

‘Burlang Jatra’: focus on conservation of bio-diversity—Nirman, a grassroots working with Kutia Kondh tribals of Kandmal Dist. Odisha

Volume 1, Issue 12; Jan—Feb 2015

The Monthly Newsletter of the Millet Network of India

The Milleteer

Millets-The Everlasting Grains

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About ‘MINI’ Millet Network of India is convened by Deccan Development Society, which over the last 25 years, has been working with rural communities of Medak District and assisted them in their quest for food sovereignty. The Network has about 120 members across the length and breadth of the country, and is currently involved in a range of interven-tions in about 8 states including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

An Appeal All the members of Millet Network of India who receive this newsletter are requested to make their contributions to it, so that it can be enriched and stories from different cor-ners of the country where not only MINI works but from across the borders can be pre-sented. Photo-features, stories, analytical articles, policy analyses and so on are all wel-come.

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Millet connection : Can diabetes be prevented? The answer is an emphatic YES!!

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DDS’ Biodiversity Festival – 2015 AND Regional Workshop on “Millets and sustainable Agriculture - Practices, Policies and Partnerships” Nagaland: A Summary of reports More on page 8 & 9

A.P’s First-Ever Millet Shop in the city of Visakhapatnam: Susag Organics, a home for millet shopping

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Karnataka govt. keen on obtaining Geographical indicator tags for MILLETS: Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister of Karnataka

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In the 21st century, climate change, water scarcity, increasing world population, rising food prices, and other socioeconomic impacts are expected to generate a great threat to agriculture and food security worldwide. These impacts present a challenge to scientists and nutritionists to investigate the possibilities of producing, processing, and utilizing other potential food sources to end hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

Millet Fest 2015 rekindles layman’s love for “coarse cereals”, the Millets.

The Milleteer invites articles, photo-features , analyses , etc. Members are encouraged to contribute to: [email protected]



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The first-ever Millet Festival organised by the Telangana government with an aim to popularise the consumption of millets among common public proved to be a huge suc-cess. Even as curtains came down on the three-day festival on Sunday, stall-owners and festival organizers were pleased that consumption of millets had regained their pride of place in the food matrix of rural and urban dwellers alike. They said growing of millets was downgraded and it almost came to naught following the success of Green Revolution. The festival was started in 2012 when the State was united and the number of visitors had been on a steady rise over the years, the organis-ers said. State Ministry of Agriculture and College of Home Science, Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) have jointly organised the festival. Speaking after inspecting the stalls put up at the festival, State Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy said the current food habits of people were leading to vari-ous diseases. “Consuming millets that are storehouses of nutrition will help people in keeping ailments at bay. It is better to develop the habit of taking nutritive food, instead of going to doctor after getting ill,” he said. Stalls displayed and sold various types of millets including sorghum (jowar), pearl millets, finger millets, little millets, foxtail mil-lets and kodo millets among others. Both raw millets and processed foods were sold. Processed food included snacks (like jowar muruku, multi-grain muruku, multi-grain laddu, millet cookies etc.), breakfast cereals (like jowar flakes, bajra flakes, muesIi plain and muesli honeycoated, ragi-idly mix etc.) and flours of various millets. There were even dedicated stalls for diabetic patients. They sold foxtail millet (korra) rice, pachcha jonna ravva (green sorghum ravva), ragi malt (finger millet malt) and sajja (pearl millet) murukulu among others. Doctors have acknowledged the importance of coarse cereals as affordable sources of dietary fibre. According to a stall-owner M Manik Rao from Planet and People, BHEL, a private organisation which promotes millets and solar en-ergy, “Some four decades ago, villagers used to treat guests from the cities with rice while their staple food in the villages was millets. Gradually, villagers also shifted to rice and this was accelerated by a flawed Green Revo-lution that basically supported huge consumption of water and fertilizers. Millets need very little water and people are now realising their value.” Even the Father of Green Revolution, Dr MS Swaminathan had called upon the people to go back to millets, he said. According to Giridhar, a senior executive of Deccan Development Society (DDS), who operated one of the 60-odd stalls at the Millet Festival, a comparative analysis of nutritive value of millets with other major grains showed that millets scored very highly over other grains including rice and wheat. The DDS / MINI sternly demanded that the State government include millet-based foods in the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Midday Meal scheme and in State-run welfare hostels.

- MINI Secretariat, Hyderabad

mailto:[email protected]




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Uttarakhand farmer’s seed saving movement holds promise Jardhar village comprises nearly 26 small hamlets in Uttarakhand. Like hundreds of villages in the country agriculture is a major occupation here. But the village is known for more than just agriculture. It houses some of the country’s best and ‘lost’ ancient seed varieties. This is thanks to Mr. Vijay Jardhari, a small farmer and founder of seed saving movement called Beej Bachao Andolan (seed savers movement), who has managed to save some hundreds of ancient seeds from different crops till date. Collection Presently, in his collection are about 350 varieties of paddy, eight varieties of wheat, four of barley, 220 varieties of kidney beans (rajma), eight of cowpea and 12 varieties of navrangi dhal. His unique seed saving movement is a big hit in the region. The farmer is also credited with discovering an old tradition in Uttarakhand called Barahnaja (also called Bara anaaj in some places) meaning 12 grains/seeds. Some of these are resistant to droughts, floods and pests, thus ensuring some output even at times of major distress or natural calamity. “As a practice, after these 12 Barahnaja is harvested, the fields are left fallow for sometime and then rice or barnyard millet is grown. After this wheat is sown and the same procedure is repeated Thus a proper crop rotation is ensured,” says Mr. Jardhari. But how did he get interested in this seed saving protection issues? Initial trial “I was into chemical farming initially and the yield did increase. But I was able to notice that the soil fertility was decreasing in the second year itself. This high intensive farming and the input costs can only go up gradually and not scale down. “During the third year I found that the seeds planted from the previous harvest did not yield well and I harvested only a small quantity for seed requirement. These were hybrid seeds designed to break the chain of cultivation that has come through to us for hundreds of years,” he says. Instinct So instinctively he stopped chemical farming and started using hybrid seeds. The village elders and his father seem to have admonished him for using new hybrid seeds because there were so many varieties of paddy and other crops once, where as now it is the same hybrid rice or wheat. “This opened my eyes,” he says and he started going around the whole region in search of finding and collecting traditional seeds. He met several people in various villages trying to find out more about local seeds as well as older practices.



Millets-The Miracle Grains


The Milleteer Volume 1, Issue 12; Jan—Feb 2015

The Milleteer invites articles, photo-features , analyses , etc. Members are encouraged to contribute to [email protected]



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Intentions “The modern agricultural cartel, in their intention to corporatise agriculture pushed for mono crops, mostly non food crop that were totally alien to this part. That is how, in these parts they pushed for Soya. “So we had to jump in again to the rescue of farmers. We asked the government as to who will process the bean into oil or milk? And for whom was the rich protein and cash they were drumming about. “The farmers after selling these to the rich far-away markets had to buy either low qual-ity ones from the open market which were not cheap. “So our save our seed campaign caught up with and farmers and farming was saved and old traditional seeds and practices returned including this Barahnaja,” says Mr. Vijay, with a smile of pride. Change in mindset Today Mr. Vijay has not only been able to change the mindset of people in Uttarakhand but also of the Government. The agri dept professes about his Barahnaja system which is being popularised all over the region. Persons like Mr. Vijay Jardhari hold much promise for better agricultural practices in today's fast eroding farming sector. To talk to Mr.Vijay Jardhari interested readers can contact him on mobile: 09411777758 and address Mr. Vijay Jardhari, Jardhar village, Tehri garhwal, Uttara-khand 249175.

Courtesy: M.J. Prabhu, The Hindu

A.P’s First-Ever Millet Shop in the city of Visakhapatnam

Following MINI’s regional consultation in collaboration with Andhra University, on Reviving Millets in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, we take pride in an-nouncing a first ever Millet Shop in the city of Visakhapatnam. Please spread the word to your friends and relatives to make use of this facility.

Address:

Susag Organics,

Indian Women’s Association Building,

5th Floor, Opp. Janapriya Footwear,

Income Tax Office Road, Dabha Gardens, Visakhapatnam—16

Phone: 8985348236, 9347260022







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Millet connection

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disor-der in which a person has high blood glucose (sugar), either because of inadequate insulin production, or because the body’s cells do not re-spond properly to insulin, or both.

Prolonged exposure to diabetes dam-ages important organs like the eye, the kidney, the heart and nerves, as the result of damage to small blood vessels. Heredity, obesity, stress, rich diet, and lack of physical activity are some of the causes for diabetes. Can diabetes be pre-vented? The answer is YES, but with lifestyle and dietary modification. Dietary modification, physical activity and keeping an ideal body weight may help to take care of diabetes and prevent associated problems. Physical activity/exercise helps the muscles convert glucose to energy. But there is a risk of developing hypoglycemia. Shifting to a healthy diet and a brisk walk of more than five hours a week helps keep blood glucose level normal.

As far as diet is concerned, millets have an important role in helping control diabetes. Mil-lets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown as cereal crops or grains. Millets are important crops in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. Kodo millet (Hindi: Kodra; Tamil: Varagu), foxtail millet (Hindi: Kangni; Tamil: Thinai), pearl millet (Hindi: Bajra, Tamil: Kambu), barnyard millet (Hindi: Jhangora; Tamil: Kuthiravaali), little millet (Hindi: Kutki; Tamil: Samai), proso millet (Hindi: Barri; Tamil: Panivaragu), finger millet (Hindi: Mandua; Tamil: Raagi) and sorghum (Hindi: Jowar; Tamil: Cholam) are some types available in India.

Millets like sorghum are predominantly starchy and the protein content is comparable to that of wheat and maize. Millets are non-gluten, non-acid forming foods and are high in proteins, fibre, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc. They not only help prevent diabetes but also other complications like heart disease and cancer. Millets are also rela-tively rich in B vitamins (especially niacin, B6 and folic acid) and phosphorus. Among the millets, pearl millet (Bajra) has the highest content of macronutrients and micronutrients such as iron, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, folic acid and riboflavin. Finger millet (Ragi) is an extraordinary source of calcium. Though low in fat content, it is high in PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids). It is also rich in essential amino acids, like lysine, threonine, valine, sulphur containing amino acids.

Studies have shown that millets are also rich in health-promoting phytochemicals like poly-phenols, lignans, phytosterols, phyto-oestrogens and phytocyanins. These function as anti-oxidants, immune modulators, detoxifying agents, etc. and hence protect against age-related degenerative diseases like cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes, cancer, etc. Studies have reported that the consumption of millet-based food items produced the low-est post-prandial glucose levels i.e. after a meal. Millet’s high fibre content slows digestion and releases sugar into the bloodstream at a more even pace. This helps avoid the abnor-mal spikes in blood sugar of diabetes patients. Thus, a healthy diet that provides the highest quality of nutrients and is low in fat and moderate in calories benefits diabetics and help manage blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol.

Courtesy: Dr. Vijay Viswanathan, Chennai-based Diabetologist






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‘Burlang Jatra’: focus on conservation of bio-diversity

Under the MINI programme, ‘Burlang Jatra’, traditional festival of Kutia Kondh tribals of Kandhamal district organised a festival to promote con-servation traditional seed breeds and of bio-diversity.

This festival was earlier being observed at tribal homes. Before start of agriculture process for the year, the Kutia Kondh tribals used to worship their deity representing mother earth, ‘Dharani Penu’ with the seeds they would sow. But this year this festival was converted into a mass festival at Ghuma village in Tumudibandh block of Kandhamal district. Our MINI partner ‘NIRMAN’, which is working with Kutia Kondh tribals in Kand-hamal district for promotion of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation, was the catalyst behind the transformation of this festival.

During the Burlang Jatra this year the tribals performed their ritualistic worship of ‘Dharani Penu’. During the rituals they also offered their seeds to their deity. At the Burlang Jatra organised as a community festival in-habitants of several surrounding Kutia Kondh inhabited villages partici-pated. During the festival they displayed the seeds of millet and other crops. They also exchanged traditional seed stocks among each other.

A group of farmers of the Sangham Women from the Deccan region rep-resenting the DDS farming communities were also present in millet seed breed conservation from Medak district in Telangana State, other parts of Kandhamal district as well as from Bolangir district also took part in this festival to promote conservation of traditional seed breeds among the tribal farmers of the area.

Some of the successful millet farmers of the area were also honoured at the behest of Sub-Collector Mr. Anupam Saha, Balliguda Block of Kand-mahal District.

With support of local tribal elders, the NIRMAN activists promoted bio-diversity conservation based millet farming in the area. They also pro-cured millet seed varieties from other districts. Due to it at present the tribals of Tumudibandh block are now cultivating 45 varieties of millet and have their seed banks to preserve these seed varieties. As a result of it the tribals have also started preserving seeds of traditional breeds of other crops and vegetables.

- MINI Secretariat & Nirman





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Karnataka govt. keen on obtaining Geographical Indicator tags for millets

In a major effort to encourage the cultivation of millets in Karnataka, the state government is now working to give greater emphasis to indigenous and heritage nutri-millets such as same or little millet, navane or foxtail millet, araka or kodo millet, and baragu or barnyard millet, and obtain Geographical Indicator (GI) tags. A programme to build extensive awareness about the valuable nutritional benefits of these traditional millets will be taken up, according to Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah. In 2015-16, through a collaboration of ICRISAT, IBAB and agriculture universities, the state government has proposed to initiate a research project on Genome Sequencing (non-GM) to bring out improved seed varieties in ragi, tur gram, jowar and kabul gram and for promotion of best suitable breeds. It would also encourage research and demonstration of productivity, profitability, sustainabil-ity and additional gains from alternate cropping systems in irrigated areas and double the area under the ragi and jowar special package to 40,000 hectare. A ‘Vision Group’ for the agriculture, horticulture and food processing sectors, chaired by an expert, will be setup to develop an overall vision for the agriculture sector in Karnataka. The state is also on an aggressive mode to give a fillip to agriculture and horticulture sectors. In this regard, it announced a new campus for the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga. Five agricultural produce markets will be set up in the state at Bidar, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada. A horticulture college is to be established at Haveri district. With Karnataka’s geographical area spanning across 10 agro-climatic zones, the state offers great potential as well as complex challenges in the agricultural sector.

To begin with, for the efficient use of water and for preserving micro nutrients in the soil, a Micro Irrigation Policy 2015-16 would be formulated. In addition, it would draw upon the expertise of national and international institutes such as ICRISAT, ICARDA and CIMMYT to establish a centre for excellence. The focus of this centre will be imparting training on im-proved cropping systems, integrated farming systems for dry land agriculture, moisture con-servation and monitoring through sensor-based water management systems.

The government is keen to maximise the earnings of the farming community and is organis-ing to strengthen their associations by affiliating them to food processing centres. To support them, 90% subsidy will be given for procurement centres, cold storages, farm mechanisation implements and processing units. Backward and forward linkages will be provided through PPP-IAD framework of Government of India. These organisations will act as monitoring or-ganisations for activities within their jurisdiction. These organisations will be involved in se-lecting beneficiaries and training farmers. The food parks are expected to be strengthened by selecting beneficiaries on cluster basis under National Horticulture Mission.

- Courtesy: Nandita Vijay, FNB News, Bengaluru







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DDS’ Biodiversity Festival – 2015 The Biodiversity Festival has now become an annual feature of the region where the Deccan Development Society works. It has become one of the traditional festival for the local people and the same with the name "Biodiversity Festival – 2015" started from Village Hoselli , Zaheerabad Man-dal, Medak District on January 14, 2015 on the auspicious day of Sankranti and has traveled through 50 villages. The Jathra was inaugurated under the leadership of Sri P V Satheesh, Director, DDS. At the ceremony Sri P V Satheesh recollected that this festival has been celebrated since the past 15 years and now it had gained immense recognition not only in Medak dis-trict but also in other parts of India and the world over. He further stated that the newly formed state of Telangana should declare the State as Millet State. Few farmers who are conservers of biodiversity, traditional food and farm-ing were honored through mementos and certificates by DDS. The inaugu-ral ceremony was graced by Special Guest, Dr. G. Umapathy, Senior Scien-tist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Mr Andreas Rieke-berg, Political Activist – Campaign for Seed-Sovereignty from Germany, Ms Christiane another Political Activist from Germany, Chief Guest Dr. S. Galeb, Director, Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Ms. Bhanumathi Natarajan, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Norway, Dr Rukmini Rao, Director, DDS, Sri. P. Mohan Reddy, Sarpanch Hus-selli Village and of course a number of farmers and well-wishers. After a short coconut breaking ceremony, the celebration of Cradle Cere-mony to mark the crops that give us life such as “Millets” and a Funeral and Cremation Ceremony to mark the Crops that take life such as “BT Cotton” was the central theme that sent out strong message out of this festival that Millets are the future of food and farming. Shortly afterwards, the festival teams traversed on with their respective cultural teams. The Mobile Biodi-versity Festival in which bullock carts studded with traditional seeds, carry-ing the message of agricultural biodiversity and its importance to farmers travelled from village to village covering about 50 villages. The festival in each village flagged off well around 10am with the presence of the respec-tive Sarpanch and prominent figures of the village at the centre of the vil-lage. After a short coconut breaking and prayer ceremony, the caravan of bullock carts were greeted with dance troupes performing traditional folk dances and by meetings with farmers wherein the importance of biodiver-sity, and farming that respects and adheres to the principles of biodiversity were underscored, especially to a new generation of farmers. Children and elders including women and youth have joined in these processions ap-proximately 2000 participants from each village.






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DDS’ Biodiversity Festival – 2015

The Concluding Ceremony of the Jatara held at Pachasaale, the Green School being run by the DDS at Machnoor Village, Jharasangam Mandal on February 13, 2015. Some of the special invitees who have participated in the ceremony are Smt Dr J Geeta Reddy, MLA of Zaheerabad, Prof Mohan J Dutta, Director CARE National University of Singapore, Dr Rajiv Paul, Senior Consultant Physician, Apollo hospitals, Sri T Sudhakar, Deputy General Man-ager, APEDA and other prominent local leaders from the district of Medak. The cultural activity such as Kolatam, folk songs etc have attracted the masses, about a thousand women farmers attended the ceremony.

Quiz competitions were held for the young people of four mandals and prizes were distributed for the winners. DDS had made detailed survey to identify the well-noted and successful farmers, who have wedded their agri-cultural activity for keeping alive the traditional agricultural methods and propagating the importance of biodiversity, and mixed cropping pat-terns. Advantage has been taken to invite such farmers and honour them before the elite guests and general public at the Concluding Ceremony. A memorandum was drafted for submission to State Administration detailing the problems of farmers and demanding the declaration of Telangana as a Millet State.

- DDS / MINI Secretariat, Hyderabad

Regional Workshop on “Millets and sustainable Agriculture- Practices, Policies and Partnerships” - 29th & 30th January 2015, Nagaland

Attended by a total of 74 delegates from different parts of North East region, the workshop is an attempt to bring together millet based farming communities from the region and create a plat-form for dialogue between farming communities, policy-makers, researchers, academicians, NGOs, media and entrepreneurs from different parts of North East. Promoting Millet as a food crop providing multiple securities is also an exertion to reclaim food sovereignty and autonomy over identity as indigenous people. The workshop featured voices of experience sharing from practicing farmers of different communities of NE region, highlighting on the vitality of embracing traditional agricultural practices and knowledge specific to millet cultivation as an alternative in adapting with the changing climate and the impending threat of food security. Collating with talks and presentations on perspectives of millet cultivation by im-portant stakeholders such as Government, Researchers, Media, Entrepreneurs, NGO’s and Acade-micians, the workshop was a comprehensive platform of mapping the roadmap towards sustain-ability in agriculture and food security. The workshop also witnessed the release of “A photographic guide book on – Wildlife of Fakim” documentation by the Bhutan Glory Eco Club, of Fakim Village Nagaland.

- Courtesy: NEN, Nagaland


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