Millet as India's Pillar of Sustainability

India is the world’s leading producer of millets accounting for over 40 per cent of global production. Andhra Pradesh stood in the first place in the country in millet productivity in 2022, as per the National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD) annual report 2022-23

NABARD has been promoting 22 millet-based farmer producer companies in Andhra Pradesh. These FPCs have nearly 9,970 farmers as members and are engaged in millet-based business activities such as input supply, procurement, providing custom hiring services, and processing and marketing of the millets, among others. In order to provide support to entrepreneurs for recipes and value-added products to promote millet consumption under the International Year of Millet (IYoM) 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture has funded 66 startups with more than Rs 6.25 crore. A remarkable increase in the number of startups in the millet sector has caught the government’s attention to turn the production and promotion of millet into a mass movement in India and abroad. According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India has witnessed more than 80 startups in the millet sector in the past year and a half. On the other hand, there are certain challenges such as lack of awareness amongst the consumers, high cost of millet procurement and processing, maintaining smooth supply, and cost of multiple distribution channels, that are hampering the growth of this sector. Let's take stock of how impactful has the International Year of Millet been in India so far.