Millets After the International Millet Year - Revival or Tokenism?

When India led the global campaign for the International Year of Millets in 2023, it was heralded as a watershed moment for a grain family that had long been marginalized. Millets were the main crop for dryland farming at first. They fed millions of people with minimal water, thrived where rice and wheat failed, and shaped the cultural and nutritional character of much of rural India. But during the next few decades after the Green Revolution, these crops slowly disappeared from fields and plates. Government buying rules, irrigation-based farming, and subsidized rice-wheat systems all had a big effect on how people farmed. For example, millets were called "poor man's grain" instead of climate-friendly staples. A lot of people hoped that IYM 2023 would be the start of their comeback because it got a lot of attention and policy support around the world. The question today is whether that hope is coming true or if the resurrection is going to be more of a show than a meaningful change.

There is clear proof of momentum. Millets have been called "nutri-cereals" since 2018. This name highlights how nutritious they are compared to polished rice and wheat. Urban stores have also quickly filled their shelves with millet pasta, cookies, and cereal flakes that are said to be high in fiber, gluten-free, and good for people with diabetes. These clues point to the reemergence of lost cereals that had long been overshadowed by rice and wheat.

However, enthusiasm alone does not guarantee systemic change. On the ground, procurement figures reveal a gloomy reality. Millets still have a little representation in the Public Distribution System (PDS), and government procurement of coarse cereals is heavily concentrated in a few areas. Farmers in many millet-growing regions, notably rain-fed tribal belts, continue to have limited access to markets, storage, processing facilities, and MSP coverage. Without guaranteed procurement or appealing price support, many producers rightly stick to rice and wheat, which provide consistent returns even if they exhaust groundwater and require external inputs. For the farmer already on the verge of disaster, economic survival trumps agro-ecological reasoning.

Millets may remain a specialty commodity rather than a staple until the state provides more support, such as through MSP expansion, procurement reform, decentralized processing, and retail subsidies. The market today rewards grain only after it has been processed, branded, and packaged for affluent consumers. This is the inverse of what a food-security transformation demands.

The other difficulty is perception. The rebirth of millets risks becoming urban-centric, health-trend driven, and primarily symbolic, unless accompanied by rural livelihood benefits. It is insufficient for millets to appear on five-star meals and organic food aisles. The goal must be to restore to household kitchens, anganwadi meals, tribal diets, drought-prone farm systems, and PDS baskets. True resurrection must restore soil, water stress, and farmer income, not only create flashy commercial efforts. The grain that previously fed communities cannot be repurposed just through corporate rebranding. Similarly, expanding millet-based midday lunches, ICDS nutrition supplies, and community-level flour mills could help to anchor consumption outside of the elite markets. A millet economy that pays farmers, feeds the poor, and heals the earth is clearly within reach—but only if policy changes are strong and long-term.

The International Year of Millets was a starting point, not a destination. Whether 2023 is a watershed moment or a squandered opportunity will be determined by what occurs when the spotlight fades. The true measure of revival is not the number of festivals held, but the amount of area changed. Not how many brands emerged, but how many farmers profited. Not how many millet biscuits were sold in Bengaluru, but how many anganwadis in Bundelkhand, Bastar, or Kalahandi now offer ragi porridge. The future of millets will be determined not in conference rooms, but in dryland fields, bore-well-scarred villages, and the kitchens of India's poorest homes.

For the millet movement to evolve beyond symbolism, India must address a fundamental question: who is this revival for? A grain is revitalized not by trending on metropolitan labels, but by the farmer finding security in cultivating it and the poorest Indian being able to eat it every week, not just on Nutrition Day speeches or millet festival menus. The future of this crop is dependent not on promotional initiatives, but on reliable procurement, assured markets, village-level processing facilities, and a redistribution of agricultural incentives that currently favour crops that require far more water and inputs. Without rethinking the economics of food production, millet revival risks being based on awareness rather than accessibility.

The next decade will determine if IYM 2023 is the catalyst for a structural revolution or a ceremonial event without roots. If millets are to truly anchor a second green revolution, the change must be slow, patient, and rooted in communities where farming is a matter of survival rather than a lifestyle. When millet-based nutrition schemes reach a malnourished child in Odisha, MSP covers a tribal farmer in Gadchiroli, and rural households pick ragi because of necessity rather than novelty, revival becomes transformation. Branding alone will not revive millets. Their destiny is determined by whether they return to farms, marketplaces, and kitchens, rather than festival banners and urban stores. If procurement procedures change, MSP is extended to dryland farmers, and PDS and midday meals include ragi and bajra, the resurrection will become a living reality rather than policy theatre. IYM 2023's success will be assessed not by awareness efforts, but by resilience in drought-prone districts, improved child nutrition, and increased farmer incomes. When millets are once again available to both the impoverished and the thoughtful consumer, revival will become change.

Only then will millets return to their rightful place – not on posters and press releases, but in soil, seed, kitchen, and culture.