2-day little millet harvest festival begins at Araku

A two-day Little Millet Crop Harvest Festival, organised by Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), an NGO, commenced at Araku in ASR district on Monday

Due to declining yields, many tribal farmers have been gradually replacing their traditional crops such as Ragi and Little Millet with commercial crops like turmeric and ginger. Given the high nutritional value of millets, it is crucial to promote and enhance their productivity to make millet cultivation more remunerative, particularly through Crop Intensification methods based on Natural Farming principles, says ML Sanyasi Rao, Associate Director of WASSAN (Watershed Support Services and Activities Network).

WASSAN has been working closely with tribal farmers to improve millet productivity and has achieved encouraging results. About 100 farmers practised the System of Millet Intensification (SMI) during the last Kharif season and are now ready for harvest and scientific evaluation. The Agriculture Department and University scientists are also collaborating in these trials.

So far, five experiments have been conducted, which show that farmers achieved up to three times higher yields compared to traditional methods — around 1 ton of grain per acre, against the usual 3 quintals per acre. Through this approach, Little Millet farmers are now earning approximately ₹40,000 per acre, marking a significant improvement and offering great potential for upscaling millet cultivation among tribal communities.

Little Millet (Panicum sumatrense), locally known as Peddasama, is cultivated on rain-fed dry lands.

Little Millet is cultivated in over 6,605 acres, within ASR district alone accounting for 87% of the total area. However, under the conventional broadcasting method, the average yield is only 544 kg per hectare, limiting profitability.

As part of the Millet Harvesting Festivals, WASSAN scheduled a series of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) across the Araku–Paderu region. These events brought together officials from the Agriculture Department, scientists from ANGRAU, representatives from SERP and RYSS, and Gram Panchayat leaders to engage with millet farmers adopting the ‘SIRI SAMA’ method.

A Crop Cutting Experiment (CCE) conducted on November 10 in the field of Lokkai Raghunadh of Gorapur village recorded a yield of 1,840 kg per hectare, while Bakaa Jayalakshmi of Sovva village achieved 2,520 kg per hectare. The yields were measured using the standard 5 m² plot method and verified with digital moisture meters. Notably, the same field had produced only 550 kg per hectare last year under conventional cultivation practices, said Mr. Sanyasi Rao of WASSAN.