Paper short abstract:

This paper critically analyses the transformation of millets from a rural ‘poor man’s crop’ to an urban/global ‘superfood’ led by India's achievements in millets revival. It draws on a ‘just transition’ framework to explore the tensions and opportunities in the mainstreaming of Indigenous foodways.

Paper long abstract:

Indigenous food crops, such as millets, have long been cultivated by rural and Indigenous communities in India as a vital aspect of Indigenous food and nutrition security and socio-cultural identity. After withstanding waves of marginalisation driven by urbanisation and the dominant logic of agricultural development, recent years have witnessed a resurgence in millets production and consumption in the country. In the current push for revitalising the millets agro-food system, national, state and local governments have emerged as key drivers of millets agro-food system transformation. The consequences of the rapidly changing geographies of millets farming for Indigenous food and nutrition security, for biodiverse farming, and climate justice warrant further investigation. Key questions include to what extent does the global and urban dimension of millets revival address the different forms of justice (i.e., distributional, procedural, inter-generational, environmental)? Does it reflect a shift to ‘just transition’? Drawing on my millets research in the state of Odisha (India), this paper critically analyses the transformation of millets from a rural ‘poor man’s crop’ to an urban/global ‘superfood’ within a ‘just transition’ framework and explores the tensions and opportunities that have emerged in the mainstreaming of Indigenous foodways.