Millet Revival through Odisha Millet Mission Among the Tribal Farming Communities of Rayagada, India

The Green Revolution in India focused on rice and wheat, neglecting the traditional crops like millet. A rice-based diet replaced millet, the traditional food of Odisha’s tribal farming community during this transition. Diet changes over the years have resulted in micronutrient deficiencies in the Odisha tribal farming community. Additionally, the impact of climate change, like the irregularity of monsoons in the rain-fed regions in the state, created food security issues. Thus, there has been an effort by the State Government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Odisha to integrate millet into agricultural policies through the launch of the Odisha Millet Mission (OMM) in 2017. The study's primary objective is to examine the practices of the OMM and its impact on the revival of millet. Additionally, the study will understand the implication of OMM toward reviving traditional foodways. The fieldwork was conducted in Kalyansingpur block, located in the tribal district of Rayagada, with support from an NGO, NIRMAN, the local facilitating partner of the OMM, which played a crucial role in implementing the program at the grassroots level. Ethnographic methods were used to meet the objectives, including in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The findings reveal that millet, once central to the tribal community's foodway, sharply declined with the rise of commercial farming and was grown on a limited scale only for family consumption and socio-cultural practices. However, with OMM, millet cultivation has revived to some extent in areas where OMM is implemented, especially in the tribal regions, with the introduction of agronomic methods, providing farmers with direct economic incentives and creating market spaces. Here, replication of the traditional foodways is limited with the implementation of OMM. Rather, a re-engagement with the food and the community’s foodway is taking place through newer transformations in the economic and environmental aspects.