Millet for Food and Nutrition Security in Eastern India's Red Laterite and Drought-Prone Areas

Abstract

In comparison to many other regions of India, the red and lateritic zone (RLZ) in Eastern India, which includes a portion of Odisha, Jahrkhand, and the southwest region of West Bengal, has a dreadfully low yield level. This region's soil has low to medium levels of phosphorus, potassium, and calcium available, making it naturally unfertile. The majority of the holdings are situated at higher elevations, where gully development and erosion threats are prevalent. Due to the unpredictable or unequal distribution of monsoon rainfall in this area, rainfed crops frequently fail partially or completely. The majority of this zone is rainfed, monocropped with rice and fodder, and has a cropping intensity of 125–130%. Millions of small and marginal farmers in this area of India struggle with limited resources and provide inadequate food and nutrition in relation to their economic security. Due to a number of biophysical limitations, one of the main obstacles to improving the dire situation in the drought-prone RLZ of Eastern India was intensifying rice-fallow by adding appropriate crops. Since millets are drought-tolerant and climate resilient, they might be the best option for the rice-based crop sequence, any fallow or marginal land, an agro-forestry system, or even for popularizing any millet-based crop sequence to raise the standard of living for small and marginal farmers in the RLZ's arid tract. The goal is to create a paradigm that addresses food and nutritional security for areas such as the RLZ in eastern India by implementing a millet-based cropping system. The feasibility of millet production in the area was assessed using the research data that was available. Value-addition and small-scale agribusiness were approached from a multidisciplinary perspective. In order to increase food and nutritional security in the drought-prone and red-laterite regions of Eastern India, we conceptualized the existing state, future possibilities, and research plans for enhancing the millet production system in this work. We think the same methodology can be used in other parts of the world with agroclimatic circumstances similar to those in the RLZ.