To incentivise the farming and distribution of coarse grains – jowar, bajra and ragi under the public distribution system, the centre will procure one million tonne (MT) of nutri-cereals across nine states from farmers in the current kharif season (October-September).
According to a food ministry official, the government is aiming at increasing procurement of coarse grains under Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations to 4 – 5 MT in the next couple of years.
States which would be procuring coarse grains include Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
According to a food ministry official, Karnataka will be procuring around 0.6 MT of ragi from the farmers for the distribution in the PDS this season.
Officials said that the food ministry has written to Rajasthan to commence procurement of bajra for distribution in PDS keeping into consideration local preference.
According to the food ministry, 0.65 MT of coarse grains have been purchased under the MSP operations from the farmers in the 2021-22 kharif season.
The major coarse grains crop covered under MSP) are jowar,bajra, ragi, maize and barley.
The National Food Security Act stipulates monthly distribution of 5 kg of foodgrains – rice, wheat and coarse cereals per head to 800 million beneficiaries. However, the Food Corporation of India and state agencies only procure rice and wheat for distribution under PDS.
In April 2018, millets were rebranded as ‘nutri cereals’ and the government declared it the national year of millets with the objective of generating more production and consumption. The United Nation General Assembly is celebrating 2023 as the International Year of Millet.
Millets are primarily grown during the kharif season in rainfed areas as these crops are less water and need much less agricultural inputs than rice and wheat.