Minor millets in South Asia: learnings from IFAD-NUS project in India ...

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Food seCuritY and inCome generation through Finger millet CultiVation in nepal 117 Economic analysis The cost of cultivation of finger millet was high in Khanigaun because animal power was not used in finger millet cultivation. Human power was more expensive than the animal power. Economic analysis of finger millet cultivation showed that the cost: benefit ratio was 1:1.08 (Table 4). Table 4. Economic analysis of finger millet cultivation (INR/ha) Activities Quantity Rate (NR) Total (NR) labor input (no.) male 62 70 4340 material inputs (kg/ha) Female 225 35 7910 seeds 7.5 35 225 urea 118 15 1770 Cost of cultivation 14245 gross production (kg/ha) 1936 8 15488 Net profit 1243 Cost: benefit ratio 1:1.08 source: Field survey, 2003 Crops and varieties Rice, maize, finger millet and wheat were the main food grain crops grown in Khanigaun. The most popular varieties of finger millet were Mudke, Chaure, Dalle, Paheli and Bhursi among which Dalle was more popular and grown by 55% of the farmers. Seed maintenance and management systems As per the existing practice, the experienced women farmers were assigned the job of selecting the healthy ear heads (Biu balyaune) as a source of seed for the following year planting. The head should be true to the type, well matured, big, and free from diseases. Harvested heads were stored after drying otherwise the quality of the seeds might deteriorate. Dried heads are stored as such in the sacs or in bamboo bhakari. Threshed seeds were stored in the earthen pots (gagro, ghayampo)/kothari. This was the age old traditional practice of seed storage for maintaining seed purity and viability. Gender involvement For one hectare of millet cultivation, about 361 labour days were required of which 292 (77%) were contributed by women. Usually, the tasks requiring physically hard work (such as land preparation), were performed by men and the lighter jobs performed by women. In spite of the high labour contribution by women, there was disparity in relation to men for labour exchange. In general, two woman labour days
118 minor millets in south asia were considered equivalent to one man labour day even for the same work assuming that man does double the work as compared to the women. The wages were also fixed on the same basis and whether in cash or kind, the females always used to get only 50% of that was paid to males for the same working days. This represents obviously a sign of high disparity between men and women, further underscoring the unfair treatment that women still receive as far as their agricultural work is concerned. Major constraints Finger millet was used only in traditional recipes like roti, porridge (dhindo), khole and local beverage. It was considered as a non-prestigious food because the rich people never liked it and made a proverb “Kucharle kuanna khayo, Ku kathale dhapaidena kumanchhe” meaning thereby “bad man hits the bad bird (with a bad wood) which eats bad grain (finger millet)”. This obviously shows a very low status and dignity of the people consuming this grain. Preparation of the local alcoholic beverage is not legal in Nepal but the local culture has contributed to the acceptance of this practice by the society in many regions. 5.3. Survey on local beverage preparation in Nuwakot district Based on the discussions in a group meeting held at Nepal Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Khumaltar, a survey methodology was finalized and a questionnaire for the survey of cost: benefit analysis of local beverage production was developed. A purposive method of sampling was applied for the survey in view of the professional processors being small in number, and the beverage being consumed by all the Matawalese and other large number of non-Matawali communities. Twenty five percent of the total households were taken as a sample representing medium to poor families from the professionally alcohol selling group. Besides this, rest of the information was collected from rich families who prepared alcohol and jad (local beverage in a thick liquid form) for home consumption and not for sale. Local beverage production and quality Finger millet was considered as a beverage crop rather than food crop in Matawali group in Nuwakot district. The farmers expressed that the quality of finger millet beverage was always superior to that of other grains like maize, wheat and rice. Farmers also believed that millet beverage was good for health if consumed in little quantity regularly as a medicine. Jad was prepared throughout the year for home consumption and used as a part of daily food in all the Matawali community. Use of landraces in local beverage During the survey interactions, the farmers reported that the varieties/landraces having sweet taste when used for roti and dhindo were also found good for beverage production.
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Minor Millets in South Asia Learnin
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contents iii Contents Foreword v Pr
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foreword v Foreword The project,
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foreword vii Foreword I extend my c
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prefAce ix Preface The small millet
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executive suMMAry 1 Executive Summa
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executive suMMAry 3 women. Informat
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executive suMMAry 5 and seed exchan
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executive suMMAry 7 systems. These
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executive suMMAry 9 available for s
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executive suMMAry 11 dissemination
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introduction 13 Introduction Backgr
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introduction 15 The project was dev
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introduction 17 l Develop value add
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promoting nutrious millets in tamil
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enhanCing Food seCuritY and inCome
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promoting negleCted and underutiliz
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staFF inVolVed in implementing iFad
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Chennai platForm For aCtion 179 Ann
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Chennai platForm For aCtion 181 i.
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aCronYms 183 Acronyms ABD : Agricul
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aCronYms 185 PDS : Public Distribut
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Minor millets in South Asia: learnings from IFAD-NUS project in India ...

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