Farmers in Odisha’s tribal-dominated districts bet big on little millets

Puruba Gouda of Manbar village, about 5 km from Koraput district headquarters in Odisha, is a happy man. He hopes his last year’s bumper harvest of little millet (‘suan’ in Odia) on his two acres will repeat itself in November-December and fetch him a good income.

He expects the little millet to sell at Rs 40 per kilogram against last year’s average of Rs 35 when he harvested nearly 14 quintals from two acres. This year he expects an output of around 16 quintals.

“About 70 farmers in our village grow heirloom seed varieties of little millet, like ‘sana suan’, bada suan, dhala suan, kala suan, kusum, gurji and chhupa. I cultivate the kusum variety, as its grains are bigger and it weighs more, fetching higher earnings,” says Puruba. “We sell little millet to private processing units. They process our suan and sell at Rs 100 to Rs 120 per kg,” he adds.  

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System of Millet Intensification 

Little millets (or minor millets) are tiny, gluten-free, and nutrient-rich grains cultivated in India for centuries. Sama or Kutki is the most widely grown little millet in the country.

In Odisha, Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Nuapada, Kalahandi, and Kandhamal are the major districts where tribals have been growing little millets for ages. They are a staple consumed as ‘mandia jau’ (millet broth) and ‘mandia bhat’ (millet rice). 

However, their suan-farming in uplands had been unsystematic and haphazard till the state government’s Shree Anna Abhyan was flagged off in 2017 as Odisha Millet Mission. 

 “Most farmers, after government intervention, have adopted System of Millet Intensification (SMI). As a result, production of little millet, clubbed with other varieties like koda and kangu has registered a significant rise,” says Himanshu Mohan Mishra, the joint director of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment (DAFE).

SMI increases millet production through adequate spacing, seed treatment, organic manure and other agroecological practices. The result is healthier and higher outputs. The Odisha Millet Mission promotes SMI through incentives for farmers. 

Accordingly, the Koraput Farmers Association (KFA), in coordination with the Koraput District Agriculture Department, promotes SMI that helps each seedling grow healthily, keeping a row space of about eight inches. The space is measured using a rope marker while sowing. 

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The adoption of SMI has increased the production of suan to seven to eight quintals per acre from three to four quintals, according to KFA Secretary Sarat Patnaik.

Several varieties of little millets are grown in Odisha. However, farmers of each district prefer to grow a particular type of little millet. For example, a large number of farmers in Koraput choose to grow nine varieties, including ‘dhala’, ‘kala’, ‘chitri mundi’, ‘machhari, ‘bada’ and ‘rangas’ over about 15,000 hectares. 

“Farmers of Nuapada district cultivate ‘gurji’, as it takes 65 days to 75 days to mature, while others take 90 to 140 days. However, seed sowing of all varieties in uplands is undertaken in the second half of June every year,” says Udemani Nial, the block coordinator of social outfit CPSW-Kendubhata in Nuapada district. DAFE has roped in CPSW to promote millet farming in Nuapada. 

Incentives and benefits of millet farming

Minor millets, including suan, grown mostly by the Gonds, Bhumija, Kondhs and Parajas tribals, are drought-resilient and pest-resistant. It requires minimal rainfall and needs almost no fertiliser. 

“About 300 ml to 350 ml of rainfall is sufficient for the farming of suan and other minor millets,” says scheme officer and block agriculture officer Tapas Roy, Koraput. 

“A farmer gets a financial incentive of Rs 10,000 in the first year if he grows any variety of suan in 2.5 acres. In the second year, the incentive is reduced to Rs 7,500 and in the third year, to Rs 5000. He gets Rs 4000 each in the fourth and fifth years,” adds Tapas. 

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Little millets are packed with protein, fibre and minerals. The Department of Biodiversity and Conservation of Natural Resources (DBCNR) of Central University of Odisha, Koraput, earlier collected samples of 15 varieties of little millet to laboratory-test their nutritional content.   

“While little millet has about 3.70 grams of various minerals per 100 grams, rice has nearly 0.99 grams. Similarly. The protein content in suan is around 9.38 grams per 100 grams, and it is nearly 4.99 grams in rice. While 100 grams of little millet contains about 8.01 grams of fibre, the same quantity of rice contains some 1.66 grams,” says DBCNR’s assistant professor Dr Debabrata Panda.

Problems in processing

Despite the government’s promotion of suan farming, the state has only 82 units for little millet processing. 

As a result, several farmers have to depend on the local rice mills for processing where a sizeable part of the grain is wasted. 

“When we process our little millet in rice mills, more than 60 percent of the grains are wasted. This is because the hull and bran in little millets are tightly attached to the endosperm, making processing difficult in rice mills. But if we have any specialised millet processing unit nearby, the wastage would be less than 20 percent,” says farmer Manohar Majhi. He grows little millet on 4.5 acres in his village Chanamunda of Nuapada district which has only one government millet factory (processing unit) in Ichchapur under the Komna block.   

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“Koraput has 14 blocks and each of them should have six processing units to cater to the needs of millet farmers,” says Patnaik. 

“A huge processing unit with the necessary infrastructure is coming up in Koraput under the aegis of KFA. The unit, being setup with an investment of Rs5.5 crore, will help mitigate processing problems,” he adds. 

The amount is being invested with the cooperation of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Department.

Government agency Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS), Koraput, faces a similar wastage problem even with its processing unit set up under the National Rural Livelihood Mission at Rajput under Semiliguda block of Koraput district. ORMAS purchases suan at Rs 39 to Rs 44 per kilogram. It sells grains at Rs 190 per kilogram to wholesalers and retailers at Rs 240 per kilogram.

The price at which ORMAS sells suan is high as it includes the cost of cleaning, washing and drying, processing, packaging and transporting which ranges between Rs 160 and Rs 180. The cost of waste incurred during processing is substantial, as three kg of suan yields one kg of grains, according to Roshan Kartik, the deputy chief executive officer of ORMAS, Koraput.  

“We have sought the help of Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics in processing methods that can yield one kilogram of grains from two kilograms of crops,” says Roshan. 

No MSP for little millets

While the lack of processing units poses a problem, the non-fixation of minimum support price (MSP) is also hurting farmers. 

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“The Government only purchases ragi (finger millet), and distributes it through Public Distribution System and outfits under the Integrated Child Development Scheme, because its MSP has been fixed at Rs 4290 per quintal.  But the absence of little millet’s MSP makes its marketing difficult,” says Hemsagar Behera, MD of Maa Sunadei Producer Company Ltd in Siletpani village of Nuapada district. Around 650 farmers of suan and other millets are registered with Maa Sunadei.  

Bhubaneswar-based Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) has arrived at a ‘benchmark price’ of little millet and foxtail at the behest of the state government that can help determine the MSP.  

The ‘benchmark price’ is arrived at after considering labour costs, investment per hectare and average per quintal price of the crop prevailing in other states. The benchmark price is Rs 50 more than the total cost of all these components, according to Dr Sarba Narayana Mishra, the professor and head of OUAT’s Department of Agricultural Economics. 

“We suggested Rs 32 per kilogram as ‘benchmark price’ for little millet, and Rs 30 for foxtail millet in the proposal submitted to the state government this April,” says Dr Mishra.

Now DAFE is said to have been caught up in a dilemma in determining the MSP of little millet and foxtail millet because a large number of farmers would object to it, as they sell their little millet at higher prices.  

“Farmers in our village sell harvested suan at about Rs 38 per kilogram and its grains (produced after being processed) at around Rs 75 per kilogram. So if the government fixes MSP at Rs 32 per kilogram, no farmers in my village will accept it,” says Laichana Sukia who grows suan in his four acres in his village Macchara of Koraput district. 

(Niroj Ranjan Misra a Cuttack-based freelance writer. He writes on rural and tribal life, social issues, art and culture, and sports)

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