Jonathan Muriuki: Evergreen Agriculture in East Africa #BeatingFamine
Millets, An Old Concept To Adapt To New Change
1. Millets
–
an old concept to
adapt to new change
.
2. Farmland use systems in North East India
Agricultural practices Agroforestry systems
Wet rice cultivation, no terraces Mixed homestead garden
Exclusive wet rice terraces Agriculture with alder
cultivation, irrigated
Wet rice cultivation as well as Cash crop based systems (Broom
upland rain fed agriculture but grass, pine apple and other
not shifting cultivation horticultural crops)
Wet rice terrace cultivation, Horti-silviculture
together with shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation with valley Agri-horti-silvipastral
agriculture
Exclusive shifting cultivation Livestock based
Shifting cultivation with home Sericulture based
gardens
3. Land use
Plantation Banana based agro-forestry
Jhum lands
Homegardens Areca nut based
Mustard cultivation
homegarden
Wet rice cultivation Tobacco cultivation Terrace cultivation
4. Different agricultural systems and the major crops grown therein
Type of agricultural Major crops grown
Jhum Paddy+maize+millets
chillies+vegetables
Valley
Wet rice cultivation Rice, millets
Double cropping Paddy+maize →
mustard/vegetables/tobacco
Rotational bush fallow Paddy+maize+chillies
Home garden Fruits+ginger+Vegetables
Other field practices Terrace cultivation
Horticultural plantations
Tea cultivation
Cardamom cultivation
5. Estimated diversities of major crops in
N. E. India
Crop (s) Estimated diversities
Rice 9650
Maize 15 races, 3 sub races – 1200+
Millets ???
Taros 300
Yams 230
Citrus 17 spp. + 52 vars.
Banana 16 taxa
Orchids 700 taxa
Sugarcane 19 taxa
Bamboo 78 taxa
Source : NBPGR-NE Region
6. Distribution of wild Corps grown by the
relatives of cultivated Chakmas’ in adjoining
crops in India villages of Namdapha
and as a whole in the National Park
northeastern hill region
Cereals 2
Crop Number of Species Millets 2
NE Himalaya India
• Cereals 16 60 Vegetable and pulses 17
• Legumes 6 33
Condiments and spices 3
• Fruits 51 109
• Vegetables 27 64 Oil yielding 3
• Oil seeds 1 12
• Fibre crops 5 24 Narcotics 1
• Spices and
Fibre yielding 1
condiments 13 27
• Miscellaneous 13 26 Total 33
• Total 132 (37.18%) 355
Rice germplasm 48
Source: Upadhyay and Sundriyal, 1998 Upland 26
Wetland 21
Upland + wetland 1
7.
8. Threats to Agrobiodiversity
• The traditional system was sustainable in
the past, but changing now
• Fast changes are taking place in:
– Landscapes
– Farming systems
– Individual crops
– People’s lifestyles
– Breaking of traditional sytems
9. Biodiversity therefore is a keystone in sustainability, and its loss
has been one of the common outcomes of agricultural intensification
Productivity Sustainability
Change in
Ecosystem
Function
Reduction in
Animal & Microbial
Diversity
Reduction Change in
in Plant Resource
Biodiversity availability
Intensification of
Management
Impact of agricultural intensification Intervention
on an agroecosystem
10. The Card
• Millets are produced in 18.50 million ha by 28 countries covering
30% of the continent. There are nine species which form major
sources of energy and protein for about 130 million people.
• Millets are consumed as staple food (78%), drinks and other uses
(20%). Feed use is still very small (2%). As food, they are
nutritionally equivalent or superior to most cereals; containing high
levels of methionine, cystine, and other vital amino acids for human
health. They are also unique sources of pro-vitamin A (yellow pearl
millets) and micronutrients (Zn, Fe and Cu) which are especially
high in finger millet.
• Future trends need increasing productivity and trade (regionally and
internationally) and adding value to products by
improving/increasing processing and utilization in industry. More
research-for-development (R4D) and networking are required to
achieve these.
11. Millet Production Area
• Region/Country Area Production
(million ha) (million tons)
• AFRICA (28 countries) 18.50 11.36
-East and Central Africa (8 countries) 3.36 2.01
-Southern Africa (10 countries) 1.20 0.75
-West Africa (10 countries) 13.94 8.60
• ASIA 16.99 15.17
• India 13.95 10.70
• China (mostly foxtail millet) 1.90 3.67
• USA (mostly proso millet) 0.15 0.18
• Argentina (mostly proso millet) 0.04 0.06
• World (all cultivated millet species) 38.10 28.38
12. • Production of millets is still at subsistence level by
smallholders (0.3-5.0 ha farm size) and consumed as
staple food and drink in most areas.
• These millets production areas coincide very well with
where most of the poor live
• One most significant importance of the millets, which
present them as focus for major agricultural research
and development efforts, is their widespread adaptation
in marginal production and niche areas.
• They provide farmers with the best available opportunity
for reliable harvest, food and nutrition in environments
with erratic and scanty rainfall, and low soil fertility levels
13. • About 80% of the world’s millet is used as
food, with the remaining being used for
stockfeed (2%), beers (local and
industrial), other uses (15%) and bird seed
• Animal feed as forage, grain and residue
is still insignificant
14. Value Addition
• Millets have good grain qualities suitable for
processing.
• Processing of the grain for many end uses
involves primary (wetting, dehulling and milling)
and secondary (fermentation, malting, extrusion,
glaking, popping and roasting) operations.
• Being a staple and consumed at household
levels, processing must be considered at both
traditional and industrial levels, involving small,
medium and large-scale entrepreneurs.
15. The Market
• The greatest constraint in the realization of importance of
millets is in their handling and limited use by the
producers, processors and consumers. The harvesting,
threshing, and processing for food are mainly done by
women at the household level.
• Commercially, there is a slow and emerging trend in the
industrial use of millets at the national and regional
levels.
• Because of its nature and ecology of production areas,
the mainly cultural and household processing and
consumption pattern is yielding to more and more
cottage, medium and large scale practices
16. Research-4-Development
• There are important researchable and development issues that
confound or influence the importance and status of millets, and their
potential in commercialization and trade.
• Adaptation and improvement of local varieties and local variety
derived materials have been the forms of research
• Demand would also be enhanced through knowledge and use of
grain technological and nutritional qualities of the millets by
industries in both developing and developed world.
• Productivity increase of millets would surely entice processing
industries and markets for value-adding and economic returns.
17. Research-for-development (R4D) should focus on strategies to enhance and
expand demand, in the short-, medium- and long-term. Recommended
strategies would include:
– 1. Increasing production and productivity: to improve competitiveness and close up deficit gaps; and
ensuring food and nutrition security.
– 2. Promoting millets for commercialization and markets through:
- improvement of processing and utilization methods and technologies13, including fermentation,
malting, steaming, micro milling, compositing and product development.
- diversifying end-use products to include ready made, non-conventional and better-packaged, more
presentable conventional foods.
- Expanding the use of pearl millets in livestock feed industry
- Expanding the use of millets in malting, brewing and by-products industries
- Expanding the options for millets use in novel food products, novel traits, biofortified food products
(using their unique qualities with high levels of Copper, Iron, Zinc, Magnesium and Manganese
nutritional convenience and health snack foods.
- Evaluating, developing and emphasizing grain and food product qualities and standards for industry
and end uses
- Developing sustainable regional trade in millets raw and finished products14 through improving market
channels and trading volume with maintenance of quality and standards
– 3. Increasing and diversifying millets utilization through
- Technology, knowledge, and information dissemination, transfer and exchange13 including
equipments and facilities, and markets
- strengthening and creating new linkages and human resources development through training,
education and networking within and across sub-regions
- expanding awareness to improve status of millets by generating healthy government policy
environment
- better utilization and involvement of professional expertise, and interdisciplinarity
- closer interactions between public and private sectors including producers, consumers, processors,
intermediaries mainly traders and middlemen, and distributors
18. Over all,…
• Millets are still the staple food for millions of poor people.
• Being high-energy nutritious grains make them useful components of
dietary and nutritional balance in foods.
• However, the continued and future importance of millets as food are in food
and nutrition security due to them having good amounts of untapped
potential for yield increases through hybrid development and production,
superior yield gains under drought and resource-poor environments
• Production of good grain qualities suitable for processing, and unique
nutritive values with significant amounts of essential amino acids (lysine and
methionine) minerals (especially micronutrients including calcium, zinc, iron
and phosphorus) and vitamin A (in form of beta-carotene in yellow
endosperm pearl millet); the quantities, qualities and bio availability of which
need more improvement as reviewed in the grain properties and utilization
potential of millets.
19. The Research Thrust
On the research-for-development front to increase production and productivity, more
efforts should be put on:
– developing and producing millet hybrids (topcross and population cross) with sustainable
seed systems, for both the hill and valley agro-ecosystems to extend to more productive
agroecologies
– farmer-friendly IPM packages for the control and management of economically important
weed, insect and disease pests focused on pearl millet and finger millet as priority
– enhancing intergrated resource management for soil-water-crop livestock systems in millet-
based production systems
– continuing with more vigour the processing (primary, secondary and tertiary) and utilization
methodologies; equipment and facilities development, fabrication and modification; and grain
quality assessment with product quality and standards
– fostering interaction and networking for millets R4D and information access within and across
regions and sub-regions
20. Components of the traditional
village ecosystem
Market
Animal husbandry Household Forest
Agriculture
22. Agroforestry-alternative to Jhum
Comparison of jhum vs. agro-forestry
Factors Jhum Agroforestry
Ecological factors
Fragility High Low
Homeostasis Internal External control
Biodiversity High Low (restricted)
Carbon sequestration Low More
Carrying capacity of land Low High
Ecological status Complex Complex
Economic factors
Labour Intensive Systematic
Inorganic fertilizer Not used Used sometimes
Monetary input-output Low High
Socio-cultural factor
Approaches to cultivation Slashing & burning followed by Trees grown with crops
cropping
Cropping pattern One rotation More than one rotation
Cultural value Traditional value Intervention
Local adaptability More Less
Sustainability Diversity conserved Production sustained
Source: Arunachalam et al. 2002
23. Nature's propaganda in the biosphere
Biodiversity
Managing the
interface is the
challenge?
Humans Abiotic environment
27. Horticulture / Medicinal Plants
• : There is a lack of information, database and
marketing linkage of some
• medicinal plants (records)
• : Still there is a illegal but large market
• of these plants.
• : Needs conservation through cultivation.
: A central market in co-operative basis
• may be established with proper
• information system.
• A need for biogeo database
28. Coping strategy
• Migration
• Change in choice of animals…!
• Network of PDS
• Change of cropping pattern
• Change of crop
• Responses to differential variation in
climate/environment
• Cultural landscape approach…..!!!!
29. Traditional knowledge
1. Emanates from the cultural contours of the
community concerned
2. Evolves with close contact with specific
environment and communities intimate
knowledge of their environment
Constituents of IK
1. Production, transmission and utilization of
IK & IT
2. Role in Nation Building (a). medicine &
health, (b). food system, (c). arts, crafts &
material, (d) . socio-cultural
3. Encompasses cross-cutting and
supportive issues (IPR, national policy
formulation and governance, integration of
IKS with other knowledge systems
Figure 1. Never underestimate the importance of local knowledge
Source: India Today, June 10, 2002
32. KEY
• “We should not discard old
technology (IKS) just because it is old”
- M. S. Swaminathan
• Poverty reduction is a key to reduce
vulnerability to climate change…
33. Processes of succession in a jhum fallow after site abandonment
Slash & burn Abandonment
Cultivation
& harvesting
Mixed bamboo forest
Primary forest
Fallow
Grassland
? Near original state
Secondary forest
regrowth
38. Informatics - The Change in the Pathway…….
Documentation To know
Collection
Database Methods Information To understand
Analysis
Inference To forecast
43. Promotion….
• Consultations…at different levels…
• Partnership mode….
• All India Coordinated Project
• Audio…Video…Success Stories….for
sensitization….
• Policy measures….(e.g. integrating with
mid-day meal programme or
PDS….healthcare systems)
44. Politics Policy
Environment
People
A PPP Process………
45. The need of the hour
• To have sensitization on this tradition as a
means of livelihoods in the present day
conditions to have progressive socio-economy
of the farming communities in particular.
• ‘Good Cultivation and Collection Practices’
• ‘Good Manufacturing and Marketing Practices’
• Technological backstopping and Institutional
linkages
46. Thanks
Let us save tradition, traditional cultivars and
work towards enhancing production and
economic returns to sustain livelihoods!
