Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, 21 May 2026 credited the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with helping the world rediscover the power of millets, while highlighting that Indian farmers are simultaneously addressing nutrition security and rendering the greatest service to the environment through millet cultivation.

In a post on X in Hindi, Modi wrote: 'FAO ke sahyog se duniya ne Millets ki shakti ko naye roop mein pehchana hai' ('With the cooperation of FAO, the world has recognised the power of millets in a new way'). He added that Indian farmers, through millet farming, are not only addressing nutritional concerns but are also performing the greatest service to the environment.

Context

The post arrives in the wake of the International Year of Millets 2023, which the United Nations General Assembly declared following a resolution formally proposed by India in 2021. That global campaign, championed by New Delhi through multilateral platforms including the FAO and the G20, thrust millets onto the international food-policy agenda as a climate-resilient and nutritionally dense alternative to water-intensive staples.

India is among the world's largest producers of millets, which include crops such as jowar, bajra, and ragi — staples historically grown by smallholder farmers in semi-arid and rainfed regions. The government rebranded millets as 'Shree Anna', a term that elevated their cultural and agricultural standing domestically.

Policy Backdrop

The Government of India incorporated millets under the National Food Security Mission and the POSHAN Abhiyaan, the national nutrition programme, to simultaneously boost cultivation and mainstream consumption. These moves were designed to address anaemia and micronutrient deficiencies, particularly among women and children in rural areas.

From an environmental standpoint, millets require significantly less water and fewer chemical inputs compared to rice and wheat, making them well-suited to the increasingly erratic rainfall patterns linked to climate change. By framing farmers as stewards of the environment, Modi's message reinforces a policy narrative that positions traditional crop systems as nature-based climate solutions.

Stakeholders and Impact

Indian smallholder farmers in states such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh stand at the centre of this push, as these regions account for a large share of domestic millet production. For these farming communities, the renewed global interest in millets — validated by a UN agency — translates into potential market access, better procurement prices, and recognition of traditional agricultural knowledge.

For consumers and policymakers, the dual framing — nutrition and environment — strengthens the case for expanding millet inclusion in the Public Distribution System and school mid-day meal programmes. The FAO's institutional backing lends international credibility to what has largely been a domestically driven advocacy effort.

What's Next

Observers will watch for concrete follow-through, including expanded millet procurement under government welfare schemes and new FAO-India joint initiatives focused on developing climate-resilient millet varieties. The continued post-2023 messaging from the Prime Minister signals that New Delhi intends to keep millets at the centre of its agriculture-environment-nutrition agenda well beyond the symbolic year. Any announcement on enhanced minimum support prices or export facilitation for millet-based products would mark the next tangible step in translating this narrative into farmer-level benefit.