Striving for a 'Biohappiness' Era in India
In an effort to bolster climate resilience, nutrition security, and rural livelihoods, the Indian government has embarked on a mission to promote Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) across the country. This initiative aims to revitalize agrobiodiversity, improve nutritional intake, and strengthen farmer incomes in vulnerable ecosystems.
One of the key strategies is the Nutrition-Sensitive Public Distribution System (PDS), which reserves 10% of its food-grain quota for locally procured millets. Integrating this with the Poshan Tracker, beneficiaries can now see the menu diversity and access nutrient dashboards, ensuring a balanced diet for millions.
Decentralised Seed Banks, supported under Panchayats, are another crucial part of this mission. These seed banks are legally linked to Biodiversity Management Committees and offer digital barcoding and climate-risk insurance cover, ensuring the preservation and propagation of diverse seed varieties.
The benefits of promoting NUS are substantial. For instance, NUS are naturally adapted to local, often harsh environments such as drought-prone and poor soil conditions. Millets like finger millet (ragi) thrive in dry and marginal lands, reducing dependence on irrigation and chemical inputs, thereby enhancing the farming system's overall resilience to climate variability and change.
Moreover, many NUS are nutritionally dense, rich in essential micronutrients, vitamins, and dietary fiber compared to staple crops such as rice and wheat. This contributes to improved health outcomes and addresses hidden hunger in rural and urban populations alike.
The revival of NUS also helps preserve agrobiodiversity by maintaining genetically diverse traditional crops and associated indigenous knowledge. This contributes to ecological balance and sustainable land management, which benefits both ecosystems and long-term food system stability.
In addition, the revival of NUS creates new market opportunities, diversifies food production, and enhances farmers' income streams. Rising consumer demand driven by increased awareness of NUS's health and climate benefits stimulates value chains, benefiting producers in rural communities.
Policy and research support is another critical component of this mission. Initiatives like the Power of Diversity Funding Facility are actively supporting NUS conservation, characterization, and value chain strengthening in India, fostering integration into policy frameworks and global food systems.
To further this cause, the Indian government has launched the Agrobiodiversity Mission 2.0, merging ICAR, NBA, and MoFPI efforts, setting district-wise landrace restoration targets with outcome-based grants. Additionally, an International Collaboration under the G20 "Millets-Plus" partnership is being sought to share germplasm, finance gene-editing research, and co-brand climate-smart grains, leveraging India's presidency legacy.
Infrastructure development is also a focus, with the use of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund to co-finance solar-powered millet de-hullers, cold-press oil units, and FPO-run millet cafés within 5 km of producing clusters. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are also being considered, with payments to dryland farmers for maintaining native landraces and pollinator strips, funded through CSR biodiversity pools and District Mineral Foundation surpluses.
To foster innovation, Agri-Start-up hubs are being set up in KVKs focusing on NUS-based nutraceuticals, gluten-free bakery lines, and climate-resilient seed coatings, targeting 1,000 start-ups by 2028. A "Smart Plates, Smart Planet" media campaign is also being launched, featuring chefs, tribal recipes, GI-tag branding, and millet cook-offs in PM e-Vidya school curricula.
Lastly, Minimum Support Price (MSP) realignment is being considered, with decentralized procurement and bonus incentives for minor millets and pulses in rain-fed districts, coupled with e-NAM integration to guarantee offtake.
In sum, promoting NUS in India aligns ecological sustainability with health and socio-economic development goals by building on these crops' adaptability, nutritional richness, cultural importance, and economic potential in a changing climate and food landscape.
- The Indian government's initiative to promote Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) aims to improve nutritional intake and strengthen farmer incomes in vulnerable ecosystems, as part of a mission to bolster climate resilience, nutrition security, and rural livelihoods.
- One of the key strategies is the Nutrition-Sensitive Public Distribution System (PDS), which reserves 10% of its food-grain quota for locally procured millets, and integrates with the Poshan Tracker to ensure a balanced diet for millions.
- Decentralised Seed Banks, supported under Panchayats, are another crucial part of this mission, offering digital barcoding, climate-risk insurance cover, and preserving diverse seed varieties to revitalize agrobiodiversity.
- NUS are naturally adapted to local, often harsh environments such as drought-prone and poor soil conditions, reducing dependence on irrigation and chemical inputs, thereby enhancing the farming system's overall resilience to climate variability and change.
- Many NUS are nutritionally dense, rich in essential micronutrients, vitamins, and dietary fiber compared to staple crops such as rice and wheat, making them beneficial for personal health-and-wellness and addressing hidden hunger in rural and urban populations alike.
- The revival of NUS creates new market opportunities, diversifies food production, and enhances farmers' income streams, with rising consumer demand stimulating value chains and benefiting producers in rural communities.
- Policy and research support is crucial for NUS conservation, characterization, and value chain strengthening, with initiatives like the Power of Diversity Funding Facility fostering integration into policy frameworks and global food systems.
- Infrastructure development, innovation hubs for start-ups,Smart Plates, Smart Planet" media campaigns, and Minimum Support Price (MSP) realignment are additional efforts being made to further this cause, leveraging technology for a sustainable lifestyle, investing in education-and-self-development, and fostering business growth in the sports of agricultural development.
