Climate-Smart Small Millets (CSSM): A Way to Ensure Sustainable Nutritional Security

Sustainable management of water resources is critical to address the challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, poverty and malnutrition. India’s green revolution enabled food security but at the cost of environmental degradation and unsustainable development. Water, a scarce resource, was used extensively during the green revolution to cultivate rice-wheat cropping system. However, paddy processing in India involves removing the husk, as well as polishing process in which the proteins, dietary fibre and other vital minerals are lost, rendering consumption of starch or carbohydrates leading to malnutrition due to low protein, crude fibre, minerals, calcium, phosphorous and iron. In this context, the climate-smart small millets (CSSMs) such as kodo millet, proso millet, foxtail millet, little millet, pearl millet, barnyard millet and finger millet which have originated from India play a crucial role in addressing the scarcity of water as well as issues of malnutrition, obesity and diabetes as there is a growing demand for millets in urban areas including export demand. This will benefit the resource-poor and rainfed farmers who can reap the multiple benefits of cultivating millets due to a reduction of crop duration by almost 30 days and water requirement by nearly 75%, meeting nutritional and fodder security and the challenges of climate change as they can withstand drought and extremities. Due to its balanced amino acid profile, fibre and minerals coupled with high protein content, CSSMs are superior to wheat and rice in nutrition; besides providing nutritional security, especially to women and children, it ensures forage safety for livestock. By upscaling the cultivation and enhancing consumption of CSSMs, anaemia (iron deficiency), B-complex vitamin deficiency and pellagra (niacin deficiency) can be contained. CSSMs can also help to combat health challenges such as noncommunicable diseases as they are gluten free with low glycaemic index and rich in antioxidants. CSSMs can address in unison some of the vital global issues such as poor diet, health and environmental degradation, and rural and urban poverty.