It’s nutritious, climate-resilient, good for soil health and requires minimal water - millet is in growing demand after long being neglected in favor of wheat and rice. In Tamil Nadu, farmers are now reviving this forgotten crop.
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00:00Ice cream, a tasty combination of dairy and sugar. But not this one. This one is made
00:09from millets. Millets are the grandfathers of modern day crops like wheat and corn. They
00:15are very diverse. This is barnyard millet, red grade sorghum millet, foxtail millet
00:26and this is kodo millet, which is mostly farmed in this region.
00:33In the last 40 years, millets have really reduced.
00:38And in this region, cotton and maize crops have completely taken over
00:43and made the farmers rely heavily on the market.
00:45From seed to sale, the farmers rely heavily on the market.
00:52Farmer Saravanan Karunanidhi wants to change this and bring millets back. Not only can they be
00:58more reliable crops over the long term, but millets are also better for the soil,
01:03use less water and are more nutritious overall. He started a cooperative called Namalwar Organic
01:10Millet Farmers Producer Organisation to support those that believe in the message
01:14and want to make the transition. Our motto is that all the farmers should switch to millet
01:20farming and nutritious food should reach people. So initially, we asked seven farmers to implement
01:25millet farming in five and a half acres. Today, we are doing it in 100 acres. At first, we used
01:32to organise meetings at various villages to create awareness. But today, the farmers are
01:37volunteering themselves. We visited a farm in the process of transition with Saravanan. This farm,
01:45like many others, had great yields of cash crops when the rain was good, but suffered when it
01:51wasn't. As rains get more erratic, the farmer Banumathi wanted to change to something more
01:57stable, even if that meant no bounties in good years. This is Irungu corn. We have farmed it in
02:05this entire field. We can use this as a daily food as it is very nutritious. Also, we are feeding the
02:12cow which yields more milk. When we harvest, we also grind the corn. We can prepare rice, upma, pongal
02:21and all varieties of food. Everyone can eat it, young and old, and it's healthy for everyone.
02:29This time, we ground out millets and made Diwali sweets and snacks like murukku and laddu all by
02:36ourselves. Banumathi and other women farmers work together and sell their products directly to the
02:49cooperative, who then package it and sell it to final consumers in various cities. They are seeing
02:55success as millets are becoming more popular in urban areas. Since we work, it is quite hard for
03:06us to process and prepare healthy foods for the kids, but these kind of millet flowers makes
03:12breakfast much easier and give us the satisfaction of feeding healthy foods to our children.
03:17Many customers said they are willing to pay a premium for this grain. The UN declared 2023 the
03:27year of the millet, but there is a long way to go before they can prove to be economically stable
03:32for farmers. They still do not compare to bounty cash crops, which can earn a farmer four times
03:37more in a year, but it's the other benefits that has some farmers hooked.
03:42Millets are considered to be climate resilient crops, and they hold an important place in long-term
03:52food security, according to UNO and other organizations. So, millets are capable of
03:58fulfilling the food demand and supply issues long-term. And since it is a food enriched
04:05with nutrients, it can help to eradicate nutritional deficiencies in people.
04:12Farmers are ready to do millet farming if they get good support from the government.
04:22Farmers in the region are going back to traditional ways to deal with the future.
04:26If this works out, millets will make a comeback. Farmers will likely have more
04:31reliable crops, and consumers will have a better chance at eating and staying healthy.