Ms. Bhavyashri Swami is an agriculture expert at Salgem Infoigy Farm Tech Trade, Solapur, Maharashtra. She talks about the nuances of export and import of millets.
Nowadays, everyone knows what millets are, how they are important in our lives, and how they can be exported or imported across the globe. In the last few years, these two processes have increased manifold.
Exporting is the main part of transportation of goods from one location to another. There are different methods of transportation used throughout the world. People use these methods for transporting agriculture products such as millets across the globe. Millets are a type of cereals grown in warm countries and in regions where they have alluvial soil, and they do not need more water for their growth right from seeding till the harvesting process. Millets belong to Poaceae. The temperate areas such as India are suitable for growth of millets. There are different types of millets, such as bajra, ragi, jowar, and sorghum which are exported and imported continuously from India and to India. India is one of the largest producers of millets in the world with the ranking of 5 among the top exporters. About 58.64 million tons of millets are being cultivated in Rajasthan followed by Karnataka.
Millets have a major role to play in our daily lives. The various types of millets are rich in dietary fibres needed for health maintenance. They are soluble and insoluble fibre that support digestion and enhance good bacteria essential for a normal digestive system. Millets are a great source of proteins, fibres, vitamins, and minerals, and other ingredients that are needed for good health. These ingredients help in protecting the cardiovascular conditions and diabetes which have become rampant among the present generation people. The rich protein and fibres help in maintaining the weight also and cures inflammation of the gut.
As per the data of 2020, India ranks 5th among the millet exporting countries which is increasing steadily. During 2021, the data points out that India has exported 26.9 million tons of millets to various countries. This is the trend among all the countries in the world. The consumption of millets has increased manifold since 2019-20 which is also the reason for increase in import and export of millets in the world and also because people have become health conscious and realised the value of millets to maintain the same. Countries such as USA, Russian Federation are the major exporters of millets with India in the 5th position.
It is found that many countries do not have the suitable environment for growth of millets, and so they have resorted to importing the millets to meet their requirements. India is importing a few kinds of millets from the neighbouring countries like Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and UAE as they are not grown in India but are needed for the healthy lifestyle of the people here. The grand total of imports from other countries amounts to 27 million tons. APEDA, the Agricultural and Processed Food Product Export, the national authority which works on imports and exports strategies to minimise the time spent and to increase availability, and to meet the demand in the market. It works on facilitating the shipments, transportation for both export and import, shipment of millets from India and to India across the world.
When we talk about export of millets from India to other countries, the major concern is maintaining the quality and quantity of millets and transporting them from one location to another. APEDA helps in enhancing and facilitating the shipment of millets by the significant number of Indian exporters. They export ragi, bajra, jowar, and other millets throughout the world, and APEDA helps in this. Indonesia, Belgium, Germany, and Russian countries are a few countries that import the millets. India produces 31% of the total millets produced in the country. The environment and the climate help in the large quantity of millets cultivation. India plays a major role in production of millets in the world which includes various types of millets.
APEDA has signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Millet Research for working on the strategy. APEDA has taken a sept forward to make the whole process simple, make millets easily available to suit the market requirements. It is continuously working on millets for research purposes, promotion of millets, and making value added products from millets as needed in the market. New strategies are being developed by different agriculture authorities, research institutes, to make the process simple and to make the availability better in the market for both import and export. The whole process of importing is a vast one that includes harvesting, packaging, processing, and sending to particular customers or individuals after the processing. India and other countries work actively together to increase export and import of millets. The authorities also help in making it easily available in the market.
Why should we consume millets?
We cannot skip the millets from our diet as they help in maintaining good health. It is important that we are aware of the health benefits of millets.
What is the best way to get into the export business of millets?
It is through Agri drive that we can start exporting millets. As such there are no major challenges to export millet to other places. We have to find the prospective buyer, tie up with companies, and get information about them. We need to focus on proper packaging, quality and quantity of the grains, more importantly quality. If it is to be sent to nearby markets or places, it is better to send the millets by road. Good packaging has to be done. We can make use of other helpful methods also to export millets.
What are the major problems in export or import of millets?
There are not many issues in exporting or importing millets. One may come across minor problems. one has to analyse the market demand when we supply to other countries or areas. The main issue is meeting the demand and supply. We have to work based on this. Preparing value added products is another challenge, getting the correct price for the materials, and maintaining the quality are the concerns here.
Which millet is produced most in India?
Sorghum is the millet largely produced in Inia.
Is millet farming profitable?
Yes, it is profitable, but it depends on the type of millet being produced and having proper market value for millets like jowar, ragi, sorghum, etc. Indians mainly consume these millets. The major producers of these millets in India are Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. Sorghum is the best millet in any farm as it needs less water and can be grown in warm regions like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. They are easy to grow too and ideal for exporting.
Which millet has the highest export opportunity in India?
Ragi is the highest exported millet in India. Sorghum, jowar, pearl millet, bajra, and ragi are the millets that are largely produced and exported as they contain high quantity of vitamins, proteins which are also the main requirement of the other countries getting millets from us.
What is the main message you want to convey to the audience?
When you plan to export or import millets, you need to take care of the value added products from the millets which can fetch you good profits. The value added products include processed products such as from ragi. From sorghum we can get the value added products that are ideal for diabetic or cardiac patients who need protein rich food. Ragi is a bit difficult for them to digest, and for this reason, it is important to make value added products, create a market that is vast and has a great platform. Learn how to put yourself in the market, your products across different platforms, use different methods, and these are the major things you can do. It is important to grow millets, make value added products, consume them, and stay healthy with a healthy lifestyle. You need to take care of the cardiac health and diabetes which need to be kept under control. The present generation should make all efforts to prevent cardiac issues and diabetes and control them in as many ways as possible. Millets can help you to minimise the health issues. So it is important we all work together to cultivate millets, process, and make value added products, and to create demand in the market, and to meet that demand by supplying adequately which will get you better returns for all your efforts.
Ms. Bhavyashri Swami
Agriculture Expert
Salgem Infoigy Farm Tech Trade
4th Floor, Vedant tower Opposite to
Bharti Vidyapeeth, Jule Solapur Rd,
Solapur - 413004
Near Sai super Market
Solapur, Maharashtra 413004
Email : bsgkm2019@gmail.com
Phone : 7249307023
Nowadays, everyone knows what millets are, how they are important in our lives, and how they can be exported or imported across the globe. In the last few years, these two processes have increased manifold.
Exporting is the main part of transportation of goods from one location to another. There are different methods of transportation used throughout the world. People use these methods for transporting agriculture products such as millets across the globe. Millets are a type of cereals grown in warm countries and in regions where they have alluvial soil, and they do not need more water for their growth right from seeding till the harvesting process. Millets belong to Poaceae. The temperate areas such as India are suitable for growth of millets. There are different types of millets, such as bajra, ragi, jowar, and sorghum which are exported and imported continuously from India and to India. India is one of the largest producers of millets in the world with the ranking of 5 among the top exporters. About 58.64 million tons of millets are being cultivated in Rajasthan followed by Karnataka.
Millets have a major role to play in our daily lives. The various types of millets are rich in dietary fibres needed for health maintenance. They are soluble and insoluble fibre that support digestion and enhance good bacteria essential for a normal digestive system. Millets are a great source of proteins, fibres, vitamins, and minerals, and other ingredients that are needed for good health. These ingredients help in protecting the cardiovascular conditions and diabetes which have become rampant among the present generation people. The rich protein and fibres help in maintaining the weight also and cures inflammation of the gut.
As per the data of 2020, India ranks 5th among the millet exporting countries which is increasing steadily. During 2021, the data points out that India has exported 26.9 million tons of millets to various countries. This is the trend among all the countries in the world. The consumption of millets has increased manifold since 2019-20 which is also the reason for increase in import and export of millets in the world and also because people have become health conscious and realised the value of millets to maintain the same. Countries such as USA, Russian Federation are the major exporters of millets with India in the 5th position.
It is found that many countries do not have the suitable environment for growth of millets, and so they have resorted to importing the millets to meet their requirements. India is importing a few kinds of millets from the neighbouring countries like Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and UAE as they are not grown in India but are needed for the healthy lifestyle of the people here. The grand total of imports from other countries amounts to 27 million tons. APEDA, the Agricultural and Processed Food Product Export, the national authority which works on imports and exports strategies to minimise the time spent and to increase availability, and to meet the demand in the market. It works on facilitating the shipments, transportation for both export and import, shipment of millets from India and to India across the world.
When we talk about export of millets from India to other countries, the major concern is maintaining the quality and quantity of millets and transporting them from one location to another. APEDA helps in enhancing and facilitating the shipment of millets by the significant number of Indian exporters. They export ragi, bajra, jowar, and other millets throughout the world, and APEDA helps in this. Indonesia, Belgium, Germany, and Russian countries are a few countries that import the millets. India produces 31% of the total millets produced in the country. The environment and the climate help in the large quantity of millets cultivation. India plays a major role in production of millets in the world which includes various types of millets.
APEDA has signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Millet Research for working on the strategy. APEDA has taken a sept forward to make the whole process simple, make millets easily available to suit the market requirements. It is continuously working on millets for research purposes, promotion of millets, and making value added products from millets as needed in the market. New strategies are being developed by different agriculture authorities, research institutes, to make the process simple and to make the availability better in the market for both import and export. The whole process of importing is a vast one that includes harvesting, packaging, processing, and sending to particular customers or individuals after the processing. India and other countries work actively together to increase export and import of millets. The authorities also help in making it easily available in the market.
Why should we consume millets?
We cannot skip the millets from our diet as they help in maintaining good health. It is important that we are aware of the health benefits of millets.
What is the best way to get into the export business of millets?
It is through Agri drive that we can start exporting millets. As such there are no major challenges to export millet to other places. We have to find the prospective buyer, tie up with companies, and get information about them. We need to focus on proper packaging, quality and quantity of the grains, more importantly quality. If it is to be sent to nearby markets or places, it is better to send the millets by road. Good packaging has to be done. We can make use of other helpful methods also to export millets.
What are the major problems in export or import of millets?
There are not many issues in exporting or importing millets. One may come across minor problems. one has to analyse the market demand when we supply to other countries or areas. The main issue is meeting the demand and supply. We have to work based on this. Preparing value added products is another challenge, getting the correct price for the materials, and maintaining the quality are the concerns here.
Which millet is produced most in India?
Sorghum is the millet largely produced in Inia.
Is millet farming profitable?
Yes, it is profitable, but it depends on the type of millet being produced and having proper market value for millets like jowar, ragi, sorghum, etc. Indians mainly consume these millets. The major producers of these millets in India are Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. Sorghum is the best millet in any farm as it needs less water and can be grown in warm regions like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. They are easy to grow too and ideal for exporting.
Which millet has the highest export opportunity in India?
Ragi is the highest exported millet in India. Sorghum, jowar, pearl millet, bajra, and ragi are the millets that are largely produced and exported as they contain high quantity of vitamins, proteins which are also the main requirement of the other countries getting millets from us.
What is the main message you want to convey to the audience?
When you plan to export or import millets, you need to take care of the value added products from the millets which can fetch you good profits. The value added products include processed products such as from ragi. From sorghum we can get the value added products that are ideal for diabetic or cardiac patients who need protein rich food. Ragi is a bit difficult for them to digest, and for this reason, it is important to make value added products, create a market that is vast and has a great platform. Learn how to put yourself in the market, your products across different platforms, use different methods, and these are the major things you can do. It is important to grow millets, make value added products, consume them, and stay healthy with a healthy lifestyle. You need to take care of the cardiac health and diabetes which need to be kept under control. The present generation should make all efforts to prevent cardiac issues and diabetes and control them in as many ways as possible. Millets can help you to minimise the health issues. So it is important we all work together to cultivate millets, process, and make value added products, and to create demand in the market, and to meet that demand by supplying adequately which will get you better returns for all your efforts.
Ms. Bhavyashri Swami
Agriculture Expert
Salgem Infoigy Farm Tech Trade
4th Floor, Vedant tower Opposite to
Bharti Vidyapeeth, Jule Solapur Rd,
Solapur - 413004
Near Sai super Market
Solapur, Maharashtra 413004
Email : bsgkm2019@gmail.com
Phone : 7249307023