How has the emphasis on certain crops brought about changes in cropping patterns in recent past? Elaborate…

Question

How has the emphasis on certain crops brought about changes in cropping patterns in recent past? Elaborate the emphasis on millets production and consumption.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Policy emphasis through MSP, procurement and crop missions spread rice, wheat, pulses, soybean, Bt cotton and sugarcane while millet area fell by more than half. Since the 2018 Nutri-Cereals notification, millet output reached 180.15 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 alongside PDS, PLI and research support.

**Introduction**

India's cropping pattern follows the crops that policy backs, and the 2018 notification of millets as "Nutri-Cereals" sought to correct the imbalance created by the earlier emphasis on rice and wheat.

**Crop Emphasis and Shifting Cropping Patterns**

1. **Rice and wheat**: MSP and procurement spread paddy into semi-arid Punjab and Haryana, and millet area has fallen by more than half since the mid-1960s.
2. **Pulses and oilseeds**: A pulses buffer stock (2016) lifted output to a record in 2016-17, while the Technology Mission on Oilseeds made soybean the kharif crop of Madhya Pradesh.
3. **Cotton, cane and maize**: Bt cotton expanded across Gujarat and Maharashtra, assured cane prices drew sugarcane into drought-prone areas, and ethanol blending raised maize demand.

**Emphasis on Millet Production and Consumption**

SKETCH: timeline | The Millet Push
- 2017 :: Odisha Millet Mission
- 2018 :: Nutri-Cereals notified
- 2021 :: UN declares 2023 millet year
- 2022 :: PLI for millet foods
- 2023 :: Shree Anna, IYM

1. **Production support**: The NFSM Nutri-Cereals sub-mission helped output reach 180.15 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 (PIB, 2025), and India held about 38% of world millet output in FAO's 2023 data.
2. **Research and processing**: IIMR Hyderabad became a Global Centre of Excellence, and a PLI scheme rewards millet-based foods.
3. **Public consumption**: Millets reach plates through the PDS, ICDS and PM POSHAN, as in Karnataka's ragi distribution and Odisha's anganwadi meals.
4. **Health demand**: Gluten-free, low-glycaemic and iron-rich grains, branded "Shree Anna" in 2023, target diabetes and anaemia.

**Way Forward**

1. **Price and processing**: Pair higher MSPs with decentralised procurement and FPO-run dehulling units, and reward paddy-to-millet shifts in groundwater-stressed blocks.

**Conclusion**

Policy that once narrowed India's plate can now widen it, moving India from food security to nutrition security on a climate-resilient cropping pattern.

How has the emphasis on certain crops brought about changes in cropping patterns in recent past? Elaborate the emphasis on millets production and consumption.

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