Abstract ID: 3.10971 | Accepted as Poster | Poster | TBA | TBA

The mountainous region of Jammu and Kashmir, located in the Northwestern Himalayas is characterized by fragile soils, remote locations, poor socio-economic conditions, and lesser livelihood opportunities; making this region vulnerable to the grave challenge of food and nutritional security. Millets have tremendous potential to deal with these multipronged challenges. Recent worldwide initiatives have attempted to bring these ancestral but forgotten crops back into peoples’ farms and plates. To understand the status of millet awareness (as well as about the International Year of Millets (IYOM-2023)), cultivation, consumption, and knowledge associated with them, a survey was carried out with 65 households in two districts namely Kishtwar, and Jammu of Jammu division, Jammu and Kashmir UT, India using a structured questionnaire. Data analysis revealed that all the respondents could identify at least one millet out of the ten commonly found millets in India from the visual aid. Low awareness (7.69%) about IYOM-2023 has been reported despite the country-wide efforts to reintroduce and rebrand millets. The type of millet identified, cultivated, and consumed varied across the surveyed sites as different millets are grown depending on the regional agro-climatic conditions. 83.08% of the respondents reported the present-time cultivation of millets as Kharif crops mainly through traditional methods. This study also elucidates the various agricultural elements associated with millet cultivation and the decline in millet cultivation in the region in the past 20-30 years. The major reasons for the decline were climate change-induced changes, the availability of fine cereals through PDS, and the diversion of lands to other cash crops. 98.46% of the respondents reported consumption of at least one millet with the frequency of consumption varying across the surveyed sites. The major reason reported for millet consumption is due to their being part of culture/tradition while the reasons for not consuming more millets is reportedly due to less preference by children and availability of rice through PDS. The various types of millets and their form of consumption have also been recorded. This study revealed that millets are the traditional crops of the region and peoples’ perspective about health and foods is still mainly shaped by ancestral knowledge.