by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- A tribal woman from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has been chosen as India's brand ambassador for millets.
Lahari Bai, 27, hails from the Silpadi village in Dindori district, about 463 km east of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh.
Bai has emerged as an underdog brand ambassador for millets with her seed bank that she has set up inside a single-story mud house belonging to her parents comprising of only two rooms.
While one room serves both as a living room and a kitchen for the three-member family, the other has been turned exclusively into a seed bank for millets that Bai in her language calls "Beej Bhandaar" (seed bank).
Even in the surrounding areas of her village, Bai is known for owning the seed bank.
Bai claims she has preserved more than 150 varieties of seeds with the majority of them being minor millets.
Small dried clusters of different varieties of millet are hanging inside the room from a bamboo stick, each cluster suspended horizontally from the ceiling.
The room also features traditionally made fixed earthen storage containers that serve as granaries. Every mud container has the name of the variety it holds conspicuously written in the Hindi language.
Bai embarked on the mission to collect and conserve millet seed varieties early in her teenage years, which according to her even earned ridicule from her Baiga tribal community.
"The seed varieties that we used to sow have become extinct and to salvage those seeds I brought them from other villages and initiated their production. I distributed those seeds among the farmers and at the time of harvest collected a small portion of their produce to be saved as seeds again. Thus, I have managed to save 16 different varieties of extinct seeds," she said.
Bai has cultivated all varieties in her fields and then saved the seeds.
Her mission to save the extinct varieties has been going on for over a decade now. She has conserved rare varieties of millet like Madhia, Salhar, Sabha, Kodo, Kutki, Sanwa, Kuttu, and Cheena.
Apart from her own village, she has distributed seeds free of charge to the farmers in the adjoining 54 villages.
"There might be around 400-500 farmers whom Bai had given seeds and they have cultivated them in their fields," Abilasha Chourasia, an agricultural officer said.
On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Bai's efforts in conserving millets and showed his appreciation to her for becoming its brand ambassador.
"Proud of Lahari Bai, who has shown remarkable enthusiasm towards Shree Ann (the mother of all grains). Her efforts will motivate many others," Modi said.
Millets are a group of nutritiously rich, drought-tolerant cereals. They are mostly grown in arid and semi-arid regions. They constitute an important source of food and fodder for millions of resource-poor farmers and play a vital role in the ecological and economic security of India.
According to India's Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India is a major producer of millets in the world with a share of 41 percent.
Three states namely Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana account for more than 81 percent share in total millet products.
"Rajasthan contributes half of India's total millet production," APEDA said.
"In India, multiple varieties of millets such as Bajra (Pearl Millet), Jowar (Sorghum), Ragi (Finger Millet), Canary seeds, Buckwheat and Other Cereal. Pearl millet (Bajra) and Sorghum (Jowar) constitute the largest share in India's total production of millets."
The Indian government has also been promoting millet production as part of its National Food Security Mission and millet production in India is expected to continue to grow in the coming years.
United Nations General Assembly in March 2021 declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM). The IYM presents India with the opportunity to increase the production of millets and increase its contribution to food security.
Modi aims to make IYM 2023 a "people's movement" and also to position India as the "global hub for millets."
Officials say millets have been made an integral part of the Group of 20 (G20) meetings and delegates will be given a true millet experience through tasting, meeting farmers and interactive sessions with start-ups and Farmer Producer Organizations.
In December last year, India assumed the G20 presidency for a period of one year.
"The department of agriculture and farmers welfare has taken a proactive multi-stakeholder engagement approach (engaging all the central government ministries, states, farmers, start-ups, exporters, retail businesses, hotels, Indian embassies etc.,) to achieve the aim of IYM 2023 and taking Indian millets globally," the agriculture ministry said last month.
"Ministries, states and Indian embassies have been allocated focussed months in 2023 to carry out various activities for the promotion of IYM and increasing awareness about benefits of millets for the consumer, cultivator and climate," the ministry said. ■
