Nagaland wants PSF for foxtail millet
The Centre is considering a proposal from Nagaland to add foxtail millet to its state-level Price Stabilization Fund (PSF), in a move to boost agricultural diversity and protect the indigenous crop.
This initiative, a senior government official told Mint, aims to safeguard the endangered staple by ensuring its continued cultivation and economic viability.
The PSF functions to build-up India’s buffer stock of crucial food commodities, releasing them into the market strategically to control price spikes. Each state has its unique intervention basket.
Nagaland’s request to include foxtail millet in its PSF aims at countering the crop’s stagnating cultivation rates, despite being a staple food in the region.
The area under millet cultivation in Nagaland has only seen a slight increase to 883,000 hectares in 2020-21 from 867,000 hectares in 2013-14.
Current figures for foxtail millet cultivation were not immediately available.
“The government of Nagaland had requested inclusion of millet (foxtail) under state PSF…it was thoroughly discussed in the state level price stabilization management committee (meeting) held in January,” the official cited above said. The request was approved by the committee, with a final decision expected soon.
Currently, Nagaland’s PSF includes onions, potatoes and pulses. Including foxtail millet is expected to promote its cultivation by providing price support, saving the local crop from potential extinction.
Millets have long been a staple of the regional diet because of their durability and high nutrition.
However, a rise in the consumption of fine cereals, along with a sub-par production system and inadequate compensation for millet farmers, has led to the decline of millet consumption and production.
The negligible growth in the cultivation area for these superfoods is largely attributed to the scarcity of high-quality traditional seeds, fertilizers, and effective farming methods, along with the impact of changing climate patterns.
In December at an event promoting millets, Nagaland’s chief minister Neiphiu Rio had underscored his government’s commitment to secure the interests of millet farmers. “With companies agreeing to come for millet contract farming in the state, we have to produce on a commercial scale and we need to have minimum price protection for the farmers with buy-back facilities,” he said.
To be sure, there is a push following the International Year of Millets in 2023 and India’s G20 presidency highlighting the importance of millets in sustainable agriculture and nutrition.
To reinforce this initiative, the Nagaland government has begun the GI registration process for four varieties of millets, including foxtail.
The past few years have witnessed a quiet yet determined movement in the Northeast to promote local millets, aiming to revive some varieties close to disappearing.
The proposal is in line with Nagaland’s efforts to save foxtail millet from extinction