Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine the status of traditional and "neglected" millets and their cultivation and consumption trends in India. It identifies the constraints, challenges and opportunities for their use to achieve sustainable food and nutritional security towards the Sustainable Development Goal 2.

Paper long abstract:

There is a growing concern about crop diversity and millet crops on one hand and a gradual erosion of such cultivation on the other. Millet crops are recognized in diverse ways. For some stakeholders, they are climate-smart crops, climate-resilient crops, contingency crops, eco-friendly crops, nutraceuticals, nutri-cereals, smart crops/foods, etc. They are vital to coping with environmental stresses and socio-economic and health problems, providing nutritional and food security, and a good risk management strategy for resource-poor marginal cultivators. For others, millets are referred as "neglected millets", "underutilized millets", etc. They are undervalued as coarse grains, minor crops, "minor millets". For some others, millets are stigmatized as "marginalized grains", "marginalized millets", marginalized crops, crops of/for the poor. At the empirical dimension, on one hand, the traditional producers of millets - tribal and rural folk, are lacking/losing interest in the cultivation and consumption of those grains as they are undervalued at the local level and are forced to abandon them for no profitable market and income. On the other, there is a/an (re)invention of tradition, as millets' nutritional values and health benefits are realized. People from the educated sections and urban areas are showing interest in millets. It became a traditional strategy for modern problems. Thus, there is a paradox of millets. Therefore, this paper examines the status of traditional and "neglected" millets and their cultivation and consumption trends. It identifies the constraints, challenges and opportunities for their use to achieve sustainable food and nutritional security towards the Sustainable Development Goal 2