Millet White Paper - part I of the series: At Laksh Farms, a sprawling oasis in Delhi’s outskirts, verdant with crops and trees, Ila and Captain Shakti Lumba grow finger millet (ragi) in summer. For Ila Lumba, growing the crop is like going back in time. “I didn’t grow up with bajra or foxtail millet…I was a total city slicker,” she says. “But my grandmother, who was from Uttarakhand, would make Kodo ki rotis when I was young. Remembering that, I said to myself, ‘let’s try to grow it here!’” A decade later, Laksh Farm’s ragi sells like hotcakes at farmers’ markets in Delhi.

Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, nutritionist and food blogger Nandita Iyer discovered the magic of millets in her quest for healthy, delicious meals. Born and brought up in Mumbai, rice used to be the mainstay of her diet. She says, “I wasn’t fond of eating white rice through the week. I picked a few types of millet and found them interesting. I started with foxtail millet and would then order different millets each time.” Saffron Trail, Iyer’s uber-popular blog, abounds in millet recipes, from foxtail millet and basil patties to ragi ginger cookies.

Suddenly millets are everywhere – if you know where to look. Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt swears by ragi chips in health websites and fashion magazines. Gourmet chefs are curating millet-based recipes to enhance the health benefits of millets.

In Sikkim, may have traditionally used millet for local brews (known as chaang), but now these grains are also vital ingredients in the recipes of microbreweries in Bengaluru and Pune. There are restaurants, culinary workshops, recipe books, cooking groups, exhibitions, and even a marathon dedicated to promoting the super grains for their nutritional benefits and sustainable production.

But millets are familiar and exotic to India. Remember your grandmother swearing by millet porridge or delighting you with millet rotis in winter? It turns out they were right about their staple foods. These ancient grains are treasure troves’ health benefits, and their revival reflects a contemporary zeitgeist towards sustainability and returns to traditional habits.

It is an attempt at documenting the diverse benefits of these grains—nutritional, environmental, and about food security—at a time when millets are regaining attention across the globe. In these times, how can a small company like Slurrp Farm be at the forefront of product innovation using millets and contribute to the education of today’s consumers by sharing their honest intentions behind making quality products for the mass retail market, is the question this project hopes to answer.

The comeback of a variety of millets like kangni millet, kudo millet and sorghum millet is significant when considering growing concerns about food security and sustainability. Their renewed relevance is significant in countries like India, where they can aid the monumental task of feeding an ever-growing population and address concerns of malnutrition, recurrent drought, and sustainable food traditions.

It is an attempt at documenting the diverse benefits of these grains—nutritional, environmental, and about food security—at a time when millets are regaining attention across the globe. In these times, how can a small company like Slurrp Farm be at the forefront of product innovation using millets and contribute to the education of today’s consumers by sharing their honest intentions behind making quality products for the mass retail market, is the question this project hopes to answer.

The comeback of a variety of millets like kangni millet, kudo millet and sorghum millet is significant when considering growing concerns about food security and sustainability. Their renewed relevance is significant in countries like India, where they can aid the monumental task of feeding an ever-growing population and address concerns of malnutrition, recurrent drought, and sustainable food traditions.