Stepping up Food Security
When humans started to domesticate plants for agriculture, millets were the first. They are high in nutritional content and are considered ‘Nutricereals’. Millets hold a key to fighting climate change and food security because they can grow in relatively poor soils and under adverse and arid conditions where other cereals cannot grow. Despite all such qualities, their cultivation is declining all over the globe which is a glaring cause for concern. In India, millets were traditionally consumed, but due to the push given to food security through the Green Revolution in the 1960s, consumption of millets dropped significantly. According to a press release by the Press Information Bureau, prior to the Green Revolution, millets accounted for around 40 per cent of all cultivated grains. This number has dropped to around 20 per cent over the years. Against such a backdrop, the International Year of Millets will step up awareness of the contribution of millets to food security and nutrition, provide an opportunity to increase global production and promote the consumption of millets.