LAST MILE EFFECTIVENESS
MILLETS INTERVENTION EFFICACY
Recognizing the benefits of millets for healthy diets and climate resilience, some NGOs have identified districts - Mandla and Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh for piloting interventions to increase millet production. These interventions range from improved seed varieties, local farmer collectives and entrepreneurs, and processing technologies to reduce drudgery and produce high-quality millets for the market.
NCCI is currently evaluating these pilot interventions. The evaluation aims to provide evidence for assessing the interventions and enabling scale-up to other locations. Fundamental principles for the assessment are:
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Robustness in the statistical analysis of adoption rates, farmers’ perceptions, and impacts on food habits.
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Objective assessment of the interventions.
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Ability to interact with NGOs to learn from the evaluation and modify accordingly.
To facilitate this evaluation, we surveyed around ninety villages across four clusters (Bichhiya, Mukki, Nainpur, and Narayanganj) in the Mandla and the Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh. The baseline surveys were done in March 2023 .
AGROBIODIVERSITY ROUNDTABLE
At the fifth Central India Landscape Symposium in February 2023, participants agreed to establish a roundtable on agro-biodiversity initiatives around Kanha Tiger Reserve, focusing on millets. The central India landscape has been a stronghold for traditional millet production, but production and consumption have declined over the last few decades. With renewed recognition of millets' climate resilience and nutrition benefits, market demand is increasing. The Agro-biodiversity roundtable aims to facilitate discussions among diverse actors to promote millets in the landscape.
Aligned with NCCI’s vision of maintaining the ‘Jugalbandi’ of people and nature in the Central Indian Landscape, the roundtable's goal is to link knowledge with action for effective efforts benefiting healthy diets and climate resilience. It provides a platform for sharing information and coordinating efforts among various actors promoting millets.
The first roundtable, held in August 2023 in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, focused on Millets in the Kanha Landscape, with participation from Civil Society Organizations, Self Help Groups, and Farmer Producer Organizations.
The second roundtable, in Mukki, Kanha, Madhya Pradesh, saw dynamic discussions to boost millet production and consumption. Topics included improved seeds, sowing techniques, and establishing market linkages across over a hundred villages in the landscape.
Access presentations, reports, and resource directories from both roundtables below. Don't miss the YouTube links to session videos and the photo gallery!
