Case6-May-2012
The action research project 'Revalorising Small Millets in Rainfed Regions of South Asia' aims to increase production and consumption of nutritious small millets and associated pulse and oil seed crops in rainfed regions of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It focuses on overcoming existing constraints related to production, distribution and consumption of small millets and associated crops It pursues a multi-pronged research strategy related to conservation, productivity enhancement, value addition, post-harvest processing, promotion and policy action to raise the profile of small millets. The project has selected six research sites in the backward and tribal dominated pockets of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand states of India and one site each in Sri Lanka and Nepal. . This project is supported by Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF) promoted by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. This three and half-year project is anchored by DHAN Foundation in association with Canadian Mennonite University. In India the project is implemented through DHAN Foundation,Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, All India Coordinated Small Millets Improvement Program, Indian Council of Agriculture Research and Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN)
The major objective of the action research is to increase production and daily consumption of nutritious small millets, pulses and oil seeds in rainfed regions of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka by using gender sensitive participatory approaches to address constraints related to the production, distribution, and consumption of underutilized species. This project has the following specific objectives.
The expected major outputs of the project are as follows:
There is a growing realization that crop varietal diversity, cultivated by small and marginal farmers in the global South, has enormous public value for ensuring global food security, poverty alleviation, and environmental sustainability. The research project examines the current state of crop varietal diversity of small millets in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka to understand the constraints and opportunities in promoting on farm conservation of crop varietal diversity. This project strives to strengthen farmers' efforts to improve, use and conserve crop varietal diversity of small millets. This will be achieved through the following research activities in the project sites.
A systematic survey of existing varietal diversity of different small millets will be conducted in each project site using participatory tools such as Diversity Fairs (locating diversity) and Community Biodiversity Registers for documenting associated traditional knowledge. The study will focus on inter crop and intra crop varietal diversity in small millets based cropping system. The farmers' taxonomy or folk classification will be used for identification and classification of crop genetic diversity. The data collected on crop genetic diversity will be analyzed for classifying varieties on the basis of their pedigree (farmers' varieties from within and outside the region, modern varieties, and creolized varieties) and spatial distribution indicating richness and evenness. The scientific measures do offer precise information on classification but are extremely costly and labour intensive. This project will employ molecular or DNA level analysis at the University of Guelph Centre for Biodiversity Genomics only when genetic diversity is not manifested in distinctive morphology attributes.
Promising genetic materials collected from documentation of agro-biodiversity and materials from gene banks will be selected on the basis of farmers' yields, consumption, and local market preferences. Selected material will be used in participatory varietal trials, employing Mother and Baby trials. The mother trial will be established in farmers' fields using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with one replicate allocated per farmer. These experiments will be researcher designed but farmer-managed with farmers' normal level of input use. Data management will be done by researchers with major yield attributing parameters relevant for on-farm evaluation. Local male and female farmers and researchers will jointly visit the trial plots at the time of maturity of the crop to evaluate the performance of the varieties. After the visit to the trial plots, focus group discussions with women and men will be organized to rank the tested varieties.
Existing self-help groups (SHGs) and farmers' groups (FGs) will be involved in seed multiplication of tested varieties in micro-plots to assure the project of enough seeds of preferred varieties for distribution to farmers under baby trials in subsequent years. For baby trials, one or two cultivars from the mother trial per farmer will be distributed to a large number of farmers through kits for testing in their plots. Unlike the mother trial, baby trials will be completely farmer managed with farmer inputs and supervision. The evaluation will be on the basis of farmers' perceptions collected at the household level through a simple questionnaire.
Farmers' networks play a significant role in flows of information and genetic materials. A network analysis approach thus will be used to explore and map seed flow channels and the processes involved in maintenance of crop diversity on-farm. A socio-metric survey will be used to obtain relational/linking data among individuals and institutions. Snowball sampling will identify the initial sample of respondents as 'starters' who will provide data on their socio-metric links. The sociometrically indicated individuals then become second stage respondents, and they in turn lead to third stage respondents. The process ultimately will identify a network of individuals and institutions (seed sellers) linked through seed and information flows. The nodal persons identified in the network will be used by SHGs/FGs in provision of project identified varieties and information to enhance farmer's access to diversity. The project will improve the farmers' access to different seed sources (community, public, private), and support farmers' visits across project sites for exchange of knowledge and practices as well as genetic materials. Seeds of lost varieties would be revived through mobilization of SHGs/FGs in local communities.
According to a recent report of the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on small millets, there is a wide gap in productivity between small millets on research stations and on farmers' fields. This indicates that either currently available technologies are inappropriate for farmers' fields or they are not disseminated through site specific action research. This project seeks to revive the culture of farmers' experimentation by engaging them in diverse research activities to adapt and improve available scientific technologies.
A systematic survey will be carried out on soil fertility, crop nutritional deficiency symptoms, farmers' cultivation practices, water management, disease and pest issues, abiotic stresses, post-harvest storage and other constraints. Based on the study outcome, an inventory of best scientific practices and available technologies to match these challenges will be compiled from national, regional, and international research centers (e.g. ICRISAT) as well as from indigenous knowledge systems (elsewhere in India and Africa). A number of low-cost approaches already exist to address the problems of soil fertility, water management, and plant protection in a sustainable manner but have yet to be exploited for conditions experienced by small farmers.
One of the most promising of these innovations is the idea of low-cost agricultural kits. A team of innovative farmers, scientists, and village level development workers will adapt these locally through inclusion of seeds (improved millet seeds, improved seeds that can be intercropped with millets to promote nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and "push-pull"-type organic pest management), low cost technologies (to help farmers with on-farm diagnostics of soil nutrition; low cost grain storage bags; microbial bio-fertilizers, etc.) and a picture book of best practices for illiterate women farmers (e.g. how to make own quality seeds; cleaning seed of fungal pathogens; water harvesting).
The goal is to rapidly disseminate global knowledge and already-available low cost technologies to local women farmers based on local needs. The kits will be distributed first to the most innovative farmers who have the highest probability of using the seeds, technologies and information to start local grassroots agri-businesses.
The project will explore opportunities to promote long term soil and water conservation measures at individual farm and collective levels as they complement the project's focus on small millet production. Based on DHAN's experience, the project will develop a location specific package of livelihood focused natural resource management measures on a pilot scale.
A comparative biochemical analysis of nutrient content will be carried out for important varieties identified by farmers and rural consumers. The laboratory research will include proximate analyses (moisture, protein, lipids, carbohydrate and ash), and mineral composition (calcium and iron) as well as their bio-availability in products. Further, some recent studies have validated farmers' knowledge about use of small millets for people with diabetes. Research will focus on characterizing different attributes of starches extracted from small millets. Nutritionally promising varieties will be assessed for their potential in developing value added products to address nutritional insecurity and the growing rural and urban epidemic of diabetes. Selected varieties will be recommended for the participatory breeding program to improve their productivity.
Millet based products are typically consumed immediately after preparation and have a very short shelf life. There are very few millet based products on the market; a common exception is a dried enriched malted powder that is used as a breakfast drink. Given the healthful attributes of millets compared to other grains, however, there is ample opportunity to develop retail products as well as improving the shelf life of products for rural household consumption. This project will draw on women's knowledge of traditional foods to develop improved cooking processes and enhance the nutrient values and shelflife of home cooked food products. This project will focus on alleviating health issues in the region including anemia, malnutrition and diabetes. Products will be evaluated for quality, shelf life and nutritional attributes. Consumer sensory evaluation will also be part of the product development process. Attention will be paid to the processes (unit operations) required to make products locally given their potential to generate income and employment in rural areas as well as to enhance rural consumption of these beneficial products.
The post-harvest technology currently used by farmers for de-hulling is primarily designed for large sized grains. It yields a product that is inferior in terms of storage, taste and nutrient content. This project will develop a low cost, easy to use, efficient, and high capacity alternative appropriate technology. The project will assess available technology, if any, and make a plan for its adaptation to small millets. Students of local engineering colleges and local innovators would be engaged to brainstorm ideas for developing this technology. Prototypes will be constructed and tested at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University with part of the design and experimental work executed at McGill University, Canada. Once an appropriate technology is developed, it will be tested for quality of final output (cleaned grains and flour). These analyses will measure compositional, thermal and physicalchemical properties of the flours and compare them to traditional hand-pounded flours. A panel will be constituted and trained to evaluate sensory attributes of the flour slurry developed from the control flour.
The project will approach indigenous knowledge systems as: (a) the 'practice of ecology' and (b) the 'ecology of practice'. Research on these two ways of understanding indigenous knowledge systems by adopting gender sensitive methods and empowering women as women play crucial roles in many agricultural operations and conducting competitions on this theme in schools and colleges will be done to revitalize the indigenous practice.
This perspective emphasizes research on farmers' practices, knowledge and skills related to farming; their natural resource management; and their food and livelihood options. The project will focus on agronomic practices, soil and water conservation, plant protection, characterization of crop varieties, conservation and improvement of crop varietal diversity, harvesting and processing of crop produce, grains storage and quality, coping mechanisms for environmental risks, nutritional qualities, and cooking and consumption of small millets. This area of knowledge systems can be codified, explained, validated, and augmented through the application of formal sciences. Some innovative agricultural practices developed by farmers will be incorporated into project participatory varietal selection trials, on-farm experimentation, and value addition research. These activities will help bridge between formal scientific and informal indigenous knowledge systems while acknowledging the role and significance of socioeconomic and cultural factors. The outcome of documentation of indigenous practices and subsequent validation and value addition will be disseminated to farmers within and across project sites.
This dimension of the research focuses on forces shaping or driving change such as ethnicity, gender, economic conditions and livelihood options, sociocultural institutions, and politics. The project will collect data on socioeconomic variables at individual, household, and community levels. A particular focus will be to understand how the power dynamics of resource allocation, reinforced through sociocultural institutions and the state, affect the poor, women, and marginalized social groups. Quantitative socioeconomic data will be gathered to analyze trends related to topics including resource use, access to land, and the nutritional balance of food consumption, food habits and daily energy use. Understanding the sociocultural context in which knowledge is produced and reproduced will help to identify structural limitations on disseminating any changes introduced by the project. Awareness of these limitations will increase the likelihood that interventions will reach marginalized groups, especially underprivileged women. Decoding the ecology of practice requires long term research and reflection, combining insights from both external viewpoints and local positions.
In contemporary globalized agriculture, farm producers are not necessarily consumers of their own products and linking local production and consumption of small millets is complicated. Challenges arise from the inferior social status of small millets, their increasing demand in urban niche markets, and the labour intensive methods of preparing traditional foods. In order to ensure that increased cultivation area and productivity of small millets translate into a matching increase in consumption at the household level, the project will examine various means to:
The project will pursue the following activities for promoting a brand called Mighty Small Millets. Consumer Survey, Promoting small millets through local entrepreneurs, Public and community based channels, Public outreach events like recipe contest and exhibition and educational campaigns will be done to promote consumption of small millets
The project will analyze existing policy documents as well as the process of policy formulation, implementation, and enforcement. DHAN's experience with policy change suggests that policy makers are positive about taking action on policy recommendations when the latter are based on empirical evidence drawn from various sociocultural and political environments. In keeping with this point, the project offers an appropriate diversity of policy contexts and instruments as the selected research sites fall in six different geopolitical jurisdictions in South Asia. Policy analysis, opportunities in existing policies, reallocating direct subsidies provided to beneficiaries of PDS, networking with policy makers and like-minded NGOs and creating awareness in scientific institutions will be carried out to effect policy change during and after wrap-up of the project.