Blog

Millets: The nutritional powerhouse for a sustainable India

Posted on by Deepesh Singh

Over the years, the Indian government has made significant strides in ensuring food security and satiating the hunger of millions of its citizens. In 2023-24, the Government of India (GoI) spent nearly USD 26 billion to subsidize food grains to nearly 800 million citizens. The GoI’s flagship National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 legally entitles up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban populations to receive subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). NFSA also entitles nutritional support to pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children aged six months to six years under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, and school-going children aged six years to fourteen years under the PM POSHAN (POshan SHAkti Nirman) Scheme. However, despite these efforts, a nutrient-rich diet remains elusive for many. Data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) reveals alarming rates of anemia and malnutrition among children and adults alike.

The government has implemented several targeted interventions to address these dietary deficiencies, such as weekly iron-folic supplementation, vitamin A supplementation, rice fortification, etc. While these measures have had some success, there is an urgent need to bundle these interventions with prioritizing and ensuring diversity in household/individual food consumption and behavioral nudging. The GoI has taken significant steps towards nutrition security with the distribution of fortified rice and is now focusing on further diversifying the food basket by including millets in the TPDS, PM POSHAN, and ICDS. Additionally, some state governments have taken initiatives to promote millets under their respective state missions in different capacities.

Historically, millets comprised about 20% of India’s food grain basket until the late 1960s. Despite their superior nutritional value and health benefits compared to rice and wheat (refer to figure 1 below), millets fell out of favor due to low remuneration for millets vis-à-vis competing crops, their complex processing requirements, taste and texture, short shelf life, seasonal consumption patterns, etc. However, with growing concerns about nutrition and climate change, the government has again begun promoting millet cultivation and consumption.

The GoI notified millets as ‘Nutri-cereals’ in 2018 as they are not only a powerhouse of nutrients, but also are climate-resilient crops and possess unique nutritional characteristics. The United Nations General Assembly had even declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYOM), thanks to India’s resolution and several other countries’ support. Hence, promoting millets and their inclusion in food and nutrition security programs is one of the strategies to improve nutrition and address the above challenges, aligning with global efforts to promote millets for their nutritional and environmental benefits.

Millets are nutritionally superior, having more micronutrient and fiber content than rice and wheat

(Source: Indian Food Composition Tables, 2017, National Institute of Nutrition)

Initiatives undertaken by GoI to promote cultivation and consumption of millets

As per the third advance estimate 2023-24 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (refer to Table 1 below), India produced approximately 17.4 million metric tons of millet during the 2023-24 fiscal year. In comparison, its ongoing procurement under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is only 0.855 million metric tons (4.9% of the production quantity, as on 06th June 2024) (refer to Table 2 below) during the same fiscal year. The data underscores a significant gap and an opportunity to procure more millets for distribution under PMGKAY.

Table 1: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare’s Third Advance Estimates of Production of Foodgrains for 2023-24 (in million metric tons as on 04.06.2024)

Table 2 – State-wise procurement of millets under PMGKAY (figures in million metric tons)  

[1] Kharif crops, monsoon crops, or autumn crops are cultivated and harvested in the monsoon season. The farmer sow seeds at the beginning of the monsoon season and harvest them at the end of the season. i.e., between September and October.

[2] Rabi means spring in Arabic. Crops grown in the winter season [October to December] and harvested in the spring season [Aril-May] are called Rabi crops.

[3] Total includes the Kharif, Rabi, Summer, Rabi+Summer variety of Jowar.

[4] Procurement of coarse grains for 2023-24 is ongoing. The data is as on 06.06.2024.

Hence, the Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India (DFPD) has taken several measures to enhance agricultural diversity and food security by promoting the inclusion of millets under PMGKAY through the following key initiatives:

  • Nudging states to increase millet procurement: DFPD has actively encouraged states to procure millets for inclusion in PMGKAY. This includes organizing national seminars and workshops. Moreover, DFPD has revised its procurement targets multifold to impress upon the states to start focusing on millet procurement.
  • Increased minimum support price (MSP): DFPD has been promoting millet cultivation among farmers by consistently increasing their MSP for every procurement season over the last few years. If we compare the last 5 procurement seasons, the MSPs of sorghum and pearl millet have roughly increased by 25% and that of finger millet has increased by 22%.

Table 3: Year-wise MSP of major millets (in INR/quintal)

  • Inclusion of minor millets in MSP: DFPD’s decision to bring minor millets such as foxtail, proso millet, kodo, and little millet under the MSP umbrella ensures that farmers receive fair prices for these crops, similar to what they would for finger millet. This initiative is expected to boost the cultivation and production of these minor millets, thereby contributing to agricultural diversity and food security.
  • Enhanced shelf life: To address supply chain constraints, DFPD has extended the shelf life of millets, allowing more time for transport, storage, and distribution. The enhanced shelf life for pearl millet (Bajra), finger millet (Ragi), and sorghum (Jowar) is a positive development. The shelf lives of millets have been changed from the earlier three months to:
  1. Bajra (pearl millet) – 9 months
  2. Ragi (finger Millet) – 10 months
  3. Jowar (sorghum) – 6 months (Kharif season) and 9 months (Rabi season)
  • Inter-state movement of millets: DFPD now permits the inter-state movement of millets from surplus-producing states to deficit states through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). This facilitates the efficient distribution of millets to areas with higher demand.
  • Standardization of Millets: The Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, initially set individual standards for a limited number of millets, including sorghum (Jowar), whole and decorticated pearl millet grain (Bajra), finger millet (Ragi), and amaranth. However, the FSSAI has recently established a comprehensive group standard that covers 15 types of millet. This standardization ensures the availability of high-quality millets in domestic and international markets, promoting their use in diverse food products.

These measures collectively aim to promote millets as an essential component of the Indian food system, both for their nutritional value and their potential to enhance agricultural diversity and food security. The increased MSP, extended shelf life, and standardization efforts make millets more attractive for farmers, consumers, and the food industry. This can contribute to a more diversified and nutritious diet for the population and support sustainable agriculture practices.

Hurdles in the Mainstreaming of Millets

Despite the number of critical steps undertaken by DFPD, the challenges regarding the mainstreaming of millets in India are significant and need to be addressed to realize the potential benefits of these nutritious crops. Here’s a breakdown of these challenges:

  • Production-Procurement Gap: The large gap between millet production and procurement is fundamental. To incorporate millets into the food and nutrition security programs for NFSA beneficiaries, a substantial increase in procurement is required, which may currently exceed the annual procurement capacity. Even if DFPD decides to include 1 kg of millet per beneficiary in replacement for the existing entitlements under TPDS, it would require 0.8 million metric tons for approx. eight hundred million NFSA beneficiaries monthly, which is roughly the same at the current total annual procurement.
  • Lack of open procurement policy for millets: The procurement of millets poses a distinct challenge. Surplus-producing states such as Rajasthan do not significantly buy millets from farmers. Once purchased, they face hurdles in disposal. The uncertainty about the amount they can distribute to other states hinders open procurement. This could result in a complicated and politically sensitive situation where the state selectively buys from farmers, thus avoiding procurement to evade a difficult situation.
  • Understanding the consumption patterns and seasonality: Millet preferences and consumption patterns vary from state to state. Different millets are favored in other regions, and their consumption often depends on seasonal factors. For instance, pearl millet (Bajra) is majorly produced in Rajasthan and Haryana, and people in North India consume it usually during the winter season. Understanding these consumption patterns and seasonality is essential for effective procurement and distribution.
  • Limited awareness about the health benefits of millets: There is a lack of understanding, particularly among rural populations, about the health and nutritional benefits of millets. Most of the rural population still believes that millet is a coarse grain. Decades have gone in classifying these grains as ‘coarse grains’ and were considered inferior to rice and wheat. Despite efforts such as the International Year of Millets (IYOM), there is a need to create awareness of millet’s nutritional and climatic benefits and bridge the urban-rural divide.
  • Productivity challenges: Post-Green revolution, research and development have primarily focused on improving the productivity of rice and wheat. According to the global initiative Smart Food, millets have an average yield of 1,111 kg per hectare (ha). This is significantly lower than the yield for paddy and wheat, which are 2,600 kg and 3,500 kg per hectare, respectively.

Way Forward

Addressing the above challenges will require a multi-faceted approach involving government policies, awareness campaigns, research and development efforts, and state coordination. millets hold great potential for improving nutrition and food security and promoting sustainable agricultural practices. By overcoming these challenges, India can maximize the benefits of mainstreaming millet in its food and farming systems. Hence, we propose the following comprehensive and strategic approach to mainstreaming millets in social safety net programs (SSNPs) and addressing the challenges discussed earlier:

  • Incorporate millets under PMGKAY in a phased manner: Currently, states have a limited procurement of millets, DFPD can incorporate millets in a phased manner. It can consider 112 Aspirational districts in the first phase, followed by the rest of the high-burden districts on stunting, raising the number to approximately 291 districts as done for Phase II of the rice fortification initiative in the country, and subsequently all the districts in the final phase.
  • Collaboration with the states: Before the procurement season, the advance requirements and modalities of distribution, such as district finalization, period of distribution, etc., of all the states can be worked out jointly between DFPD and states. Accordingly, based on landholding and productivity estimates, clear guidelines can be drafted for maximum procurement per farmer.
  • Consumer behavior studies and supply chain assessment: To understand the consumption patterns of different millets, consumer preferences, and seasonality patterns, detailed state-wise consumer behavior studies are required to build understanding. This will help effectively design the millet incorporation program into the PDS. In addition, the detailed supply chain readiness assessment will help gauge the state readiness for the roll-out of the initiative.
  • Awareness campaigns:  Launch awareness campaigns to educate urban and rural populations about millets’ health and climate benefits. Use a combination of below-the-line (BTL) and above-the-line (ATL) channels. The key is to ensure that all IEC campaigns are carefully planned, executed, and monitored with active feedback loops to ensure that campaigns are appropriately designed to convey the message. MSC’s work on the effective communication of government to people (G2P) benefit payments can provide important insights into this.
  • Incentivizing millet farmers: Besides the guaranteed purchase of millet produce on MSP rates, GoI and state governments can incentivize farmers to grow millets to bridge the productivity and ultimately earning gap between millets and rice/wheat. For instance, Haryana and Punjab have launched a crop diversification program by providing financial incentives of INR 7,000/acre to farmers for shifting from paddy to less water-intensive crops. Along similar lines, other states may launch programs to incentivize farmers.
  • Ecosystem development: Develop the millet ecosystem by promoting the creation of storage facilities, processing units, and an efficient distribution supply chain. Consider expanding schemes, similar to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, to support these ecosystem components, including storage and supply chain development.

These recommendations offer a systematic approach to overcoming the challenges of mainstreaming millets, ensuring a coordinated effort between the central government and states, and involving consumers in decision-making. The aim is to promote millets as an essential component of India’s food security and nutritional strategy, ultimately improving the diet and well-being of the population while supporting sustainable agriculture practices.

The article was first published on Krishi Jagran website on 12th August 2024.

The role of market women and digital financial services in agriculture

Posted on by Saumya Dixit

Challenges faced by market women in accessing finance – Part 2

Posted on by Deepesh Singh

Challenges faced by market women in accessing finance – Part 1

Posted on by Deepesh Singh

Bridging the care deficit

Posted on by Saumya Dixit

A cartoon making the rounds on social media showed eight professionals, including a cook, a driver, and a teacher hired by children for a day so that their mother could relax on Mother’s Day.

This very much sums up the importance of a care economy, especially as an enabler for increasing women’s participation in the workforce.

Despite being aware of its magnitude as an economy and society, we tend to undervalue unpaid care work.

Research cites a lack of focus on the care economy as one of the main reasons for the attrition of women in the workforce or entrepreneurship. Social norms expect women to be primary caregivers irrespective of whether they perform paid work or not.

The pandemic further increased the time women spend on unpaid work. Scholars such as Ashwini Deshpande showed how the gender gap in unpaid work significantly worsened in the first year of the pandemic.

NSO’s Time Use Survey reports that both employed and unemployed women in India spend 83 per cent and 78 per cent more time, respectively than men on unpaid domestic and care activities.

Time spent in unpaid care affects how much time women can spend on paid economic activities and leisure.

Shifting this disproportionate burden of care away from women requires changes at multiple levels. The central issue of who must be cared for and who provides that care is assumed to be the sole responsibility of private individuals (read women) and families. The structural and institutional context here can be decisive for the future of work and the quality of life of all demographics.

Similarly, ubiquitous local provision of affordable and quality care is even more critical for low-income working women whose compulsion to work may leave a care deficit for their own families.

Wherein they are unable to provide adequate care at home and deploy a range of informal practices to fill in this care deficit e.g. elder siblings taking care of younger ones, skipping school, and doing household chores, leaving kids with neighbours, or elderly kin.

As India becomes the most populous country in the world, there will be huge social and economic implications of the care deficit, disproportionate burden of care work on women, and lack of institutional mechanisms to provide high-quality and affordable paid care. Spectacular improvements in health and life expectancy, reductions in fertility, and smaller families make this need more critical.

A national policy

Bringing care work into the formal economy is important. An overarching National Care Policy, that enables adequate provision of affordable, quality, and where required subsidised care for all age groups, could be a starting point.

However, implementing such a policy will need robust public and private collaboration. While the government’s role is much debated and discussed, the role of the private sector is often overlooked.

The private sector can play a crucial role in enabling the provision of high-quality and affordable care services.

Private sector investment is required for the rapid skilling of young women and men on par with international standards to become certified childcare and geriatric care, professionals. Along with a rapidly increasing blue-collar workforce, build a highly skilled red-collar workforce adept in providing age-appropriate care and support. There is an exploding global demand for professional caregivers.

Studies suggest that OECD countries alone would need 13.5 million new caregivers by 2040. This presents an opportunity to create dignified job opportunities for the young fulfilling not just domestic but global demand.

Anna Roy is Senior Adviser, NITI Aayog and Mission Director, Women Entrepreneurship Platform; and Sonal Jaitly is the Gender Equality and Social inclusion Lead (GESI) at MSC

This article was first published in the Hindu 

Bridging the digital divide by enhancing effective digital finance usage among the poor: An RCT project | Part 2

Posted on by Deepesh Singh

Digital financial services (DFS) have been hailed as a game-changer that transforms developing nations, especially the lives of low- and moderate-income individuals. However, disappointingly, these services have performed below expectation, as several technical and behavioral factors hinder their adoption.

In a previous blog on Griffith Asia Insights, we delved into people’s experiences with DFS in Bangladesh and Indonesia and revealed their significant challenges. Despite technological advancements, people still prefer cash transactions to digital methods. This preference stems from a lack of trust, confidence, and perceived value in DFS, especially in cash-heavy economies.

The blog also highlighted several important issues, such as the impact of the digital divide on individuals at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BoEP) and support mechanisms to promote the adoption and effective use of financial technology among economically disadvantaged people.

The specific circumstances of individuals and their communities play a significant role in the DFS adoption process. For instance, take Hina, a small business owner in Munshiganj, Bangladesh. Although Hina has access to a mobile payment app and understands the benefits of DFS, she chooses to conduct her transactions at her local bank. These transactions consume valuable time and energy that she could use for family or business purposes. Although she actively engages in other activities on her smartphone, such as social media and gaming, she hesitates to use DFS independently. This reluctance underscores broader issues of limited financial literacy, perceived complexity, and distrust.

In 2023, a survey by Griffith Asia Institute and MSC  examined 2,000 respondents from low-income households in Bangladesh and Indonesia. It revealed the growing popularity of digital payment platforms, such as bKash, Rocket, Nagad, GoPay, OVO, and ShopeePay. These platforms offer savings, loans, bill payments, and money transfers. These services cater to those who lack access to traditional banking. The survey showed that while 55% of households use digital banking in Indonesia, it is not as prevalent in Bangladesh, where only 17% use it.

The survey reveals noticeable differences in trust, confidence, and willingness to use digital payment methods, with a higher perception of risks in Bangladesh. More than 33% of the survey participants in Bangladesh expressed concerns about fraud and financial losses with digital banking services, compared to just 12% in Indonesia. A significant majority—86% of respondents in Bangladesh preferred cash payments when shopping, and 73% preferred to send money to their families in cash. They cited convenience as the primary factor behind their choice. Conversely, these percentages were lower in Indonesia, at 49% and 46% respectively.

Research by Dipu and Sultana suggests that inefficiencies in digital payment systems contribute to this issue. They propose that user-friendly designs, simple interfaces, and comprehensive onboarding processes could increase DFS adoption. Our survey data clearly shows that more than 90% of respondents in Bangladesh use social media apps and YouTube frequently. However, only 14.5% of men and 15.3% of women use mobile banking apps, and merely 11% of men and 6% of women use mobile payment apps frequently. These low numbers signal the need to design DFS in a way that is as user-friendly as social media apps to increase adoption.

The situation is slightly different in Indonesia. Social media and YouTube usage is significantly higher, with 79% of men and 80% of women actively engaged. Additionally, the country has strongly embraced mobile banking and e-commerce apps. About 55% of Indonesians use digital banking services, which indicates a higher level of trust and confidence in digital financial transactions. This increased adoption is due to superior customer facilitation, support mechanisms, and higher income. The structured support effectively addresses concerns and fosters trust in DFS, which is not as prevalent in Bangladesh.

Our regression analysis of survey data from Bangladesh shows that the presence of local agents significantly boosts the likelihood of individuals to download and use DFS apps, and the results are statistically significant (p<0.01). Agents offer crucial handholding and personalized guidance, which is especially important for users with limited technological proficiency. This discovery emphasizes the significance of agents’ deployment in rural areas to promote DFS adoption.

Given these insights, Bangladesh is ideal for our randomized control trial (RCT) and intervention. The lower baseline of digital payment adoption, coupled with lower confidence and trust in DFS, offers fertile ground to study the impact of targeted interventions.

We must identify best practices for DFS adoption and address the factors that hinder its acceptance among non-users and low-frequency users. In response, the Griffith Asia Institute has been conducting an RCT in Bangladesh’s Munshiganj district with 230 participants from two upazilas. This trial came into being in partnership with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and MSC and with funding support from the Citi Foundation.

The experimental design has established treatment and control groups with similar observable characteristics, which enabled reliable evaluation of the program’s impact through a comparison of outcomes between these groups. An endline survey and periodic technology acceptance model (TAM) surveys will collect data on the factors that affect individuals’ decisions to adopt and use DFS. Additionally, we will use a diary-based data collection tool to capture data on changes in participants’ financial behaviors, decision-making processes, and challenges over one year of the survey.

The interventions for the treatment group seek to increase their adoption and usage of DFS relative to the control group. The interventions have two main components:

  1. Personalized discussion and handholding: This consists of hands-on learning experiences from trustworthy sources to establish credibility;
  2. Establishment of trust in digital financial services and their capability: This consists of the provision of practical guidance from credible experts to enhance users’ confidence and knowledge levels, which will thereby increase the adoption and learning rates of DFS.

The current research intends to rigorously test interventions for digital financial services (DFS) designed to accelerate adoption. It seeks to determine the optimal level of individual engagement to receive technical support, identify the most effective facilitation, and establish the best methods to increase DFS adoption.

We intend to provide in-depth information to develop effective policies as part of this research. The insights from the research study will be designed to be used by policymakers and other stakeholders to encourage and strengthen DFS adoption. Our ultimate goal is to improve financial inclusion and empower individuals so that more people have access to and can benefit from financial services.

The article was first published on the Griffith University website on 25th July 2024.

References:

  • Barquin, S., de Gantès, G., Vinayak, H. V., & Shrikhande, D. (2019). Digital banking in Indonesia: Building loyalty and generating growth.McKinsey & Company, February 6.
  • Chatterjee, R., & Hunter, S. (2023, November 6). Bridging the digital divide by enhancing effective digital finance usage among the poor| Part 1. GAI blog https://blogs.griffith.edu.au/asiainsights/bridging-the-digital-divide-by-enhancing-effective-digital-finance-usage-among-the-poor-part-1/
  • Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., & Warshaw, P. R. (1989). Technology acceptance model.J Manag Sci, 35(8), 982-1003.
  • Dipu, S. M. A., & Sultana, T. (2021). Smart GOALA: An Alternative Marketing Channel for Connecting the Peri-urban Marginal Dairy Farmers with the Urban Consumers in Bangladesh. InDigital Transformation and Human Behavior: Innovation for People and Organisations (pp. 353-367). Springer International Publishing.
  • Kaka, N., Madgavkar, A., Kshirsagar, A., Gupta, R., Manyika, J., Bahl, K., & Gupta, S. (2019). Digital India: technology to transform a connected nation. McKinsey Global Institute.Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
  • Lee, J. N., Morduch, J., Ravindran, S., Shonchoy, A., & Zaman, H. (2021). Poverty and migration in the digital age: Experimental evidence on mobile banking in Bangladesh.American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 13(1), 38-71.