Recently, the Government of Odisha planned for a mission to encourage the small scale peasants to grow certain food grains like Mandia (Ragi), Swan Garja, Kangu (common millet or Hogmillet), Jana and Bajara (Pearl millet or spiked millet).
The effort of the State Government is very encouraging. These millets are principal food grains of the tribals and forest dwellers not only of Odisha but also of all hill States of India. All these species have duration of two and a half to three months. These are grown in uplands with very minimum requirement of water. They do not require much water. These crops are raised in the non-paddy bearing areas, where soil fertility is low and not suitable for seasonal paddy. In hilly districts of Odisha, these grains are used as staple food of the people in place of rice. Considering these facts, the State Government has made a scheme of Rs100 crore to help about five lakh of small scale peasants for cultivation of such food grains. Economic assistance to the poor forest and hill dwellers definitely will encourage intensive cultivation of the species and provide economic boost to them.
There are vast upland areas which remain unproductive due to poor economic conditions of the rural peasants, who are true field agriculturists. 22 per cent of the population of the country is basically tribal sand forest dwellers who do cultivations of these species for their survival. These food grains mostly contain rich
amount of calcium, iron and fibre, which provide substantial amount of energy to them. The Central Government of India presently also has declared the year 2018 as the year of millet.
Besides above six food bearing species, there are other species, which are cultivated within tribal lands by the forest dwellers. They are maize, Arhar (pigeon pea), Haladi (turmeric), ginger, etc. The hill tribes cultivate all these food crops on the hill terrains with their traditional art and practices without Government assistances. These crops are mostly raised on water-shed areas of hill regions, which are vulnerable to soil erosions. They also carry out water conservation practices within their permissible limits. So far the cultivable lands of the tribal regions are either not classified technically or tenanted in the name of respective peasant. These are mostly forest lands. So the settlement of lands against the traditional cultivators should be carried out first. Soil conservation is also most important in these areas and adequate measures should be taken to prevent erosion of top soil.
Similarly, modern storing facilities with scientific methods of collections of the produce should be done beforehand for improved economic agromony of the rainfed areas. The writer served a considerable period of his service in tribal lands and in extremely rainfed areas of Odisha and he knows the details of difficulties, which the rural poor face. The modern agronomy has not been pushed through yet in the tribal lands and other rainfed tracts of the country as well. So the Government’s efforts are absolutely needed for transforming the less productive areas into potentially productive areas.
In our country, two-thirds of the sown or cultivated areas is drought prone and around 40 million hectares of areas are flood prone. These areas are very susceptible to climate change. So the agricultural pattern should be changed. Needless to say, the Odisha small grains mission or Modi’s Millet Mission are need-based for upliftment of the rural poor. India is basically an agrarian society where three-fourths of its populations live in rural areas and the main source of livelihood of its people is agriculture. Agriculture means not only raising of field crops, but also raising of livestock and fishery. Due to loss of vegetations in the hills and on the plains, the natural organic soil formation is stopped altogether and the ecological degradation becomes a common factor everywhere, which is verydangerous for health of animals where man is included. The people of the hill regions, who are basically poor and raise millets and other types of small grains, roots and herbs are generally exploited by certain business communities which needs timely intervention of the appropriate authorities for putting an end to it.
As understood from sources, presently agro-practices in rainfed zones will be carried out in 30 blocks in Odisha and the Government as well as 26 private agencies will undertake the job. Further such agro-practices will be extended to 55 blocks of 11 hilly districts of the State to have intensive cultivation of neglected crops. As many as 26 retail selling centres of such agro products will be opened within the capital city of Bhubaneswar.
The field growers need to be trained on what to produce in which soil and in which climatic conditions, how to produce it, what to sell and how to sell with much of profit and rendering optimum service to the society.
(The writer is a former forest officer and environmentalist, who can be contacted at nadiya.kanungo@gmail.com, M- 9937460649 )