Millets, as "nutri-cereals", are critical to India's pursuit of agricultural sustainability and nutritional security due to their climate resilience, low input necessities, and rich nutrient profile. As leading millet producer, India faces both significant opportunities and persistent challenges across the millet value chain, from input supply to the end-consumer. The present paper analyses the strengths of India's millet sector, emphasizing its environmental sustainability, along with socio-economic advantages such as smallholder viability, rural community empowerment via Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and enhanced value addition through processing and market diversification. More importantly, millets address micronutrient deficiencies with potential to reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases, thereby supporting food and nutritional security among vulnerable populations. Indian millet sector nevertheless, is constrained by output bottlenecks, limited access to quality seeds and modern agronomic praxis, inadequate processing facilities, post-harvest losses, weak market linkages, and insufficient policy support. The present paper identifies key opportunities for strengthening the millet value chain such as, investment in R setting up of decentralized near-farm processing units; digital and ecommerce platforms for market linkages; and robust policy interventions such as enhanced procurement and dedicated millet food parks. The research methodology adopted is mixed method research, with both secondary and primary research. The data collection tool for primary research is in-depth interview of domain experts, leading to qualitative perspective analysis. The analysis concludes that robust technological adoption and integrated value chain approach along with appropriate policy intervention are crucial for realizing the full potential of millets sector towards attaining agricultural sustainability and nutritional security in India.
Minerva Sahoo (Wed,) studied this question.