Tamil Nadu Millets Mission

Summary of the Initiative

Tamil Nadu Millet Mission was started in 2014-15 under National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP) with the intention to bring back the forgotten millets to normal cultivation by incentivizing cultivation & distribution of millets, organizing frontline demonstration, and to conduct training to farmers on farming and value addition of millets.

Situation before Initiative

Millet growing farmers are generally small land holders and they cultivate the crop for their own consumption. It was necessary to reduce the cost of cultivation by providing necessary technological inputs and market linkages to motivate these farmers to produce market surplus, which would ultimately result in retaining these farmers in cultivation of millets.

Nature of Initiative

Objectives of Tamil Nadu NADP Millet Mission includes the following components :

• Organizing frontline demonstration in an area of 11,500 hectares of millet-growing districts.
• Supply of 11,500 kits comprising liquid biofertilizer, micronutrients, fungicides, pesticides, etc., to the beneficiary farmers at the subsidy of Rs 3000/hectare for major millets and Rs.2000/hectare for minor millets subject to maximum area of 2 ha in millets.
• Training to farmers on farming and value addition of millets

A series of workshops on millets and their role in diabetes prevention, overall nutritional value, and income generation were organized for Self-Help Groups. Agricultural department officials were sensitized about the importance of millets. Based on crop suitability and climatic conditions, the schemes were designed by the Planning Commission so that dry districts reaped the maximum benefits. The State also worked with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) to fine tune the huller and decrease the gap of the rolling wheels. This ensured that the polished grain still had the nutrients. Mini-mills were also commissioned specifically for millets.

Impact of Initiative

The overall proposed outcome of the Millet Mission was to increase productivity of millets to 4000 Kg/hectare. Millet production and area under millet cultivation has more than doubled in Tamil Nadu in the five years as a result of this policy driven initiative. Soil moisture conservation increased by 10% and soil health status has improved. The Mission enabled dissemination of millets cultivation technology and awareness and adoption of post-harvest technology and processing of millet. The Mission has generated increased consumer demand for millets based food and thus increased income to farmers. It also encouraged the farmers to become entrepreneurs. In addition, this Millet Mission helped in transforming fallow land to cultivable land, conjunctive use of water through drip irrigation, proliferation of newly released varieties/market preferred varieties of millets, nutrient conservation and soil preservation in low productivity areas, and intensifying crop diversification from high water intensive crop to less water intensive crop. Recognizing its success, the State won the Krishi Karman Award in 2014-15 for the production of coarse cereals.

Source : State Missions and Initiatives to Promote Millets