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

executive suMMAry 5
and seed exchange involving more local farmers and to provide on-farm capacity
building on production of quality seed.
Refinement in crop production management was an important approach used
to enhance productivity of these millets. In India, these crops are more often
grown as crop mixtures, while in Nepal they are largely grown as sole crops,
although sometimes intercropped with legumes. Indian farmers largely grow them
by broadcasting a seed mix comprising different species in different proportions.
The species in these mixes and their relative proportions are location specific and
intelligently chosen to suit the local agro-climatic conditions to meet the food and
cash needs and to minimize the risks possible from climatic vagaries of marginal
dryland farming. While farmers in most of the project villages sow the crop by
broadcast method, those in Southern and Northern Karnataka grow these crops
as intercrop planted in rows with variable row ratios for millets and non-millet
crops. An important non-cereal component of crop mixture/intercrop is a legume,
either pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) or black gram (Vigna mungo). The marginal farmers
rarely manure the crop either organically or chemically. The farmers in Kolli Hills
and Jeypore used only organic manure, while the farmers in Karnataka applied
low levels of chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilization was far less frequent in
Nepal. Similarly, inter-cultivation or weeding was uncommon in the crop sown by
broadcast method, while this was practiced in row-planted crop. Thus, most of these
traditional crop management practices resulted in productivity much lower than the
actual potential. Therefore, apart from better variety and quality seed, there is a need
to adopt improved production methods in order to have enhanced production for
improved food security and income generation. These methods involve judicious
location-specific choice and proportion of intercrop species, row planting and better
agronomic management.
A farmer friendly and sustainable intercrop system has to have farmer chosen
crop combination along with good management to ensure nutrient use efficiency, soil
nutrient enrichment, also by promoting biological nitrogen fixation, reduced cost of
production and enhanced net profit. Farmer participatory production refinement regime
was determined jointly by farmers and project scientists for each region and this was
tested with farmer-practiced (traditional) method. Such trials at Kolli Hills and Jeypore
showed that with farmer selected varieties, yield gain was 23 - 33% and the relative
increase in net return was 2.8 times higher. Similar trials showed income enhancement
of 31- 46% in UAS, Bangalore and 21% in UAS, Dharwad. In terms of strengthening
of food security arising from increased nutritious millet grain productivity contributed
by improved agronomic practices, it was 39% in the case of finger millet, 37% in the
case of little millet and 31% in the case of foxtail millet.
The yield from improved practice was consistently and significantly higher
than that from the traditional practice of cultivation in all the three millet species.
The finger millet variety GPU 48 performed superior to other varieties consistently
across the demonstrations in Kolli Hills. The little millet varieties Kattavetti Samai