The year 2023 has been declared International Year of Millets. Not just quantity of food, but quality is also gaining importance. Unchecked use of chemical inputs along with over reliance on hybrid and genetically modified (GM) seeds have increased farmers’ expenses while profit remains low and mostly uncertain. Above all, climate change is affecting cropping patterns and outputs.
In these circumstances, the role of people like Sanjay Patil becomes very critical simply because of his penchant for finding out traditional and local seed varieties and propagating them as part of BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune, climate smart agriculture initiatives. Patil has discovered over 800 varieties across seven states including Maharashtra in the last three decades. He has travelled extensively and coordinated with thousands of farmers to find out traditional and local varieties of maize, paddy, pulses, vegetables, and several millets like raagi, kodo etc.
Sanjay Patil spoke to TOI in the backdrop of ‘Beejotsav’ held in Warora on challenges that besiege farmers and what needs to be done to make India’s millet mission a success.
1. What is the importance of reviving and conserving traditional seeds?
Green Revolution in 1960s has served its purpose of making country self-sufficient in food. Now, the challenges are manifold – climate change, nutrition security, reducing options of livelihood and loss of food diversity. We need crops that can survive drought, flood and can give more yield in short duration without compromising on nutrition value. Today, more people are falling sick because of deficiency of calcium, iron and other micro-nutrients. Revival of traditional and native seed varieties is the answer to these challenges. Also, new and better seeds cannot be prepared without its wild cousins. Hence, the need for traditional seeds.
2. Vidarbha farmers have been hit by yellow mosaic virus. Why do you think it happened?
Today, we grow not more than 10 to 15 crop types across the country. If a disease or pest hits, entire crop gets lost. Besides mono cropping, our farmers grow same hybrid sub-varieties over vast tracts of lands. In Vidarbha, a majority of farmers from a particular village chose to grow soyabean that too of the same hybrid type. So, when yellow mosaic virus stuck, it wiped out the entire crop. Pesticides don’t help in the long run because over the years pests develop resistance to them. That’s why we need crop diversity. Earlier, Vidarbha farmers followed mixed cropping pattern with soyabean, tur, jowar, cotton grown together.
3. East Vidarbha is primarily a paddy belt. Vagaries of monsoon are hitting farmers hard. What should they do?
We need to develop seed varieties that suit different land types. In nature, mutation happens with changing atmospheric conditions. Dadaji Khobragade, a farmer, bred and refined a high-yielding variety of paddy called HMT. The adaptable genotype extracted by Dadaji has been spreading since then. Today, we need farmers to keep looking for such natural mutations in different crops and identify adaptable type of mutations and purify them for mass production. This process should continue forever. This will help take the best gene forward. One crop one variety is not a good idea. Paddy farmers should opt for varieties with varying maturity period like 90 to 110 days, 110 to 130 days and above. Growing this varied mix of seeds together will ensure that if one crop fails others will survive.
4. Millet movement has begun in India, but what are the challenges ahead?
Millets can grow in adverse conditions — in hills, low rainfall areas and even in poor soil. That’s why they are also called climate resilient crops. Tribals call them God’s crop. Best examples of millets found in India are raagi, varai, jowar, bajra, sava, kang, barti, kodo among others. Today, we need millets that can survive high as well as low rainfall. Unfortunately, they have been neglected by researchers so far. Study is needed to find out diversity in millets. National Gene Bank, ICRISAAT Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Millets Hyderabad have saved seeds in ex situ form, but we also need varieties peculiar to specific regions in in situ form — right on the farmer’s field. We definitely need diversity in millets. One or two types of raagi (finger millet) cannot be grown in all agroclimatic zones of the country. For eg, raagi grown in Uttarakhand may not be suitable to grow in Vidarbha because of changed climatic conditions, soil type and water availability.
5. So how to bring diversity in millets?
We need to go back to nature. Mutation keeps happening in nature. Identify the right mutations and take them forward. A participatory approach needs to be taken where researchers and farmers work together. Study, propagate and disperse the information among farmers…this should be the wat forward. Farmers age-old wisdom should be respected. Variation in land topography, soil, grain quality, fodder quality are things that need to be taken into consideration mainly to select a seed, which provides maximum nutrition with resistance to diseases and pests.
6. Have millets gained acceptance in urban households?
Urban consumers have understood the value of millets in food. Declaring this year as International Millet Year is a big achievement for India. Today, consumer awareness is good, but backend questions are very critical. Climate resilient and high yielding varieties are not available. We also need seeds suitable for different agroclimatic zones. The government should start a yield improvement programme using sustainable farming practice. Afterall, we should not end up growing millets at mass levels using harmful pesticides and fertilizers. Choosing seed varieties suitable for local conditions is the most important task.
Most importantly, decentralized millet processing units should be set up along with development of sustainable storage systems because millets cannot be stored for long duration of time.
