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Can Magic Millets Provide A Solution For Malnutrition?
The innovative use of millets in Madhya Pradesh shows that millets and pulses can significantly improve key nutritional parameters among children and women
India’s rich legacy of varied and healthy foods has been systematically marginalized with the untamed commercialization of agriculture. Over time, consumer choices for easy, processed, and convenience foods replaced the traditional diets, beset by affordability and market availability, irrespective of socioeconomic boundaries equally for the rich as well as poor. As a result, in the last few decades, the production and the subsequent consumption of traditional crops like millets have decreased significantly. There is a generational gap in the knowledge and preparation of traditional foods using millets. The drastic dietary shifts and life style changes have significantly contributed to the growing malnutrition and other non-communicable diseases. India is facing the triple burden of malnutrition – undernutrition, obesity and micronutrient deficiencies. The recent NFHS-5 data is a witness to it and indicates average 1% of increase in child undernutrition across categories – underweight, severe wasting, stunting, and anemia – in over 17 states with variability, while 20 of the 22 states surveyed inclining towards overweight at the same time.