What Next in Millets and Pulses Research?

Abstract

Millets are grown mostly as unirrigated crops in areas of poor fertility. Being highly drought-resistant, they are the only staple food crops that could be grown in areas unsuited for the cultivation of paddy. Thus millets are complementary and not competitive to rice. Millets also provide fodder for cattle. It is estimated that they give nearly 6.5 million tons of straw to support 60 per cent of our cattle population. Cholam fodder, especially from the sweet juicy-stemmed varieties, is a prized fodder for the milch cattle of our State. There are eight millet crops, of which Cholam, Cumbu and Ragi are known as the major millets and occupy nearly 75 per cent of the area while Tenai, Varagu, Samai, Kudiraivali and Panivaragu form the minor millets. These are cultivated over an area of nearly 5 million acres in the Madras State and the estimated production is 1.7 million tons of grain as against 6 million acres and 3 million tons of paddy. Pulses, which are subsidiary food crops, are of great importance as the major source of protein supply in our diet. They occupy 1.2 lakhs of acres with an estimated production of 0.1 lakh ton of grain. This production meets only 10 per cent of our requirements viewed from nutritional standards. Large quantities are imported from other Indian States but the net available quantity for consumption in the State is still low.