Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millets Promotion

Summary of the Initiative

Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millets Promotion (INSIMP) was one of the well-planned initiatives by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare with a Rs.300-crore outlay in 2011-12 for promoting millets cultivation, processing, and value addition in the country.

Situation before Initiative

Despite its benefits, one of the major constraints discouraging the production and consumption of millets was the drudgery associated with its processing. This constraint to extend utilization of millet foods was required to be responded with improved processing machinery to the entrepreneurs/NGOs/KVKs. Hence, INSIMP was implemented to increase area, productivity and production.

Nature of Initiative

INSIMP was launched in 2011–12 under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY-National Agriculture Development Plan) marks the very beginning of promoting millet cultivation and consumption for nutritional security in India. The programme was aimed at supporting the States by providing financial assistance for critical areas in the millet value chain such as seed production, installing processing units and organizing awareness camps. The Scheme is being implemented in 16 States-Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Sikkim. In total, it targeted 16 States covering 6.71 lakh hectares in 149 districts.

The components of the Scheme are:

• Production
• Seed Production
• Post-Harvest and Value Addition
• Research Activities
• Awareness Campaign

The Scheme also provided financial assistance to set up three National Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in 2011 i.e. Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCS HAU), Hissar, for pearl millet, ICAR-IIMR (Formerly Directorate of Sorghum Research), Hyderabad for sorghum, University of Agriculture Sciences, Bengaluru, for finger millet and small millets etc. Under this initiative, the districts with large crop area under millets (more than 10,000 ha area under sorghum & pearl millet, or more than 5,000 ha under finger millet or more than 2,000 ha area under small millets) with productivity less than that of the National Average Yield were considered for promotion. To improve the productivity in millets, technology demonstrations in farmers’ fields were organized. Financial assistance for input kits and seed minikits were provided to the farmers. In addition, capacity building of farmers through organizing training programme was done. To promote new varieties and hybrids, augment the availability of seeds and make cost affordable to the farmers, an incentive of Rs. 3,000/- per quintal for hybrid and Rs. 1000/- per quintal High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) were provided.

Impact of Initiative

Since its launch in 2011-12, the initiative has had positive impact on millet cultivation, increasing productivity due to continued supply of quality seeds of HYVs and hybrids, development of new products for consumption, creating awareness about nutritive property and health benefits of millets. It has provided an impetus to farmers through technology demonstrations, provision of inputs, financial assistance, and aid in post-harvest value addition. The scheme helped pave the way for the millet missions which were adopted by several states.

It covered 772,857 hectares in 16 States and demonstrated improved production and post-harvest techniques along with ways of adding value to the crops. Area has increased under sorghum in AP and Tamil Nadu, finger millet in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and small millets in AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Larger yield gains have been recorded under small millets in UP (33%), Karnataka (28%), Tamil Nadu (13%) and Uttarakhand (3%)

This has helped in supporting the farmers financially, and thus enabled many to cultivate millets. Newly developed HYVs and Hybrids were popularized and many of those varieties were brought under the seed system. The Scheme through processing and value addition techniques has generated consumer demand for millet-based products. The Centres of Excellence (CoEs) established under this project are functioning with very positive outcomes. CoE of ICAR-IIMR plays the leading role for sorghum/millet processing and value addition by showcasing the processing technologies and offer troubleshooting. In addition, IIMR is also working on primary processing and secondary processing machines. 30 processing machines that were meant for processing of rice and wheat were retrofitted and conditions were optimized for suiting millet processing such as flaking, extrusion, biscuits making, parboiling including primary processing, dehulling and milling of sorghum. A few of the machinery such as suji making line, dehulling, flaking and cookie making line have been scaled up. Some of these technologies have been replicated in more than 300 processing clusters spread across the millet growing States in the country.

Source : State Missions and Initiatives to Promote Millets