Food Safety & Bio-control

Among farming communities in the Central Indian landscape, there is a locally recognised concern associated with kodo millet, referred to as matona. Farmers have developed observations, practices, and precautions around it — particularly related to harvesting, drying, and storage. This knowledge is real, contextual, and detailed. But it is consistently underrepresented in formal research.

The Food Safety & Bio-control working group is focused on taking matona seriously — as a starting point for scientific inquiry, not a conclusion.

The Kodo Millet Experiment

The Kodo Millet Experiment is an ongoing scientific inquiry exploring questions of food safety, crop biology, and community knowledge around kodo. It seeks to bring laboratory analysis into conversation with field observations and community experience, rather than treating them as separate domains.

One thread of this inquiry involves the role of fungi in relation to kodo, including the potential use of friendly fungi — such as Trichoderma — in understanding or managing crop-related concerns. Updates were shared with roundtable participants at the Fifth Roundtable in January 2026.

What the Group Is Working On

• Understanding the conditions under which matona occurs, drawing on both community knowledge and laboratory analysis

• Exploring biological approaches to food safety, including bio-control methods

• Ensuring that scientific inquiry is grounded in, and accountable to, community experience

• Developing practical guidance for farmers around harvesting, drying, and storage — once the science is sufficiently developed to support it

This is careful, patient work. It requires trust. It requires listening before proposing. And it requires holding space for uncertainty while the inquiry continues.