Perception and constraints faced by farmers in cultivation of millets in Alluri Sita Ramaraju district of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Millets also referred as super-grain, superfood and wonder-grain is one of the oldest foods known to humans, and probably the first grain used for domestic purposes. Millet is an important Staple cereal crop for millions of smallholder dryland farmers, Nutri-cereals or Dryland cereals as it offers high nutritional benefits and Smart Food as it is good for consumers, the planet and the farmers. Since Independence, India has made impressive progress in terms of growth, education and achieving Universal health care has been a key goal since the Indian Constitution was drafted. But considering, India’s growing malnutrition problem, both under-nutrition (vitamin, mineral, and protein deficiencies) and over-nutrition (obesity, metabolic syndrome, and lifestyle diseases), there is a growing awareness of the need to move to healthier, more accessible, and inexpensive diets that include millets. In addition to being naturally gluten-free and nutrient-dense, millets are also a rich source of protein, essential fatty acids, dietary fiber, and vitamin. Millets are known as “yesterday’s coarse grains and today’s nutri-cereals. The present study reveals perception of farmers and constraints faced by them in millet cultivation in Alluri Sita Ramaraju district. The study was conducted with the randomly selected 60 farmers from Alluri Sita Ramaraju district. The study revealed that more than half (55.00%) of the respondents have medium level of perception, followed by low level of perception (26.67%) and high level of perception (18.33%). It also revealed the technical, labour, economic and marketing constraints of the farmers concerned to millet cultivation.