The Shree Anna Abhiyan (SAA), formerly the Odisha Millets Mission, seeks to revive indigenous millets, conserve biodiversity and empower tribal and small marginal farmers in Odisha. Millets, integral to tribal diets and cultures, are climate-resilient, nutrient-rich crops thriving in rainfed regions like Koraput, ensuring food security and ecological sustainability.
However, a state-driven agenda — influenced by corporate seed companies — promotes hybrid millet seeds, threatening these gains.
This shift risks biodiversity loss, market dependency, and health hazards, undermining farmers’ food sovereignty and contradicting India’s commitments under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFR), 2001, and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
This article examines SAA’s transformative potential, the adverse impacts of hybrid seeds, the state’s role in corporate exploitation, challenges within the NGO ecosystem, and the urgent need to align policies with sustainable agriculture goals to protect tribal communities and foster an equitable food system.
SAA promotes indigenous millets for ecological, nutritional and socio-economic benefits.
In Odisha’s tribal regions, like Koraput, 14 traditional ragi varieties thrive, preserving genetic diversity through participatory varietal trials, unlike hybrids that foster monoculture and erode biodiversity.
Indigenous millets need minimal chemical inputs, reducing soil degradation, with deep roots preventing erosion and aiding water retention. Intercropping with pulses enriches soil via nitrogen fixation. Their low water needs suit Odisha’s rainfed terrains, unlike water-intensive paddy.
Nutritionally, millets — rich in iron, calcium and fiber — combat malnutrition via public distribution system, integrated child development scheme and mid-day meals.
Economically, SAA empowers women through self-help groups and farmer producer organisation, while culturally, millets restore tribal pride, countering their ‘inferior’ stigma.
SAA — a flagship initiative of Odisha’s Department of Agriculture, operates across 177 blocks in 30 districts, targeting 150,000 hectares of millet cultivation.
Community-managed seed centres, linked to research stations, distribute indigenous seed varieties in adherence with the Landrace Varietal Release Committee (LVRC) standardising protocols for tribal-conserved seeds.
Landrace is referred to as indigenously adapted, diverse varieties of cultivated plants that have been developed by farmers over generations through traditional farming practices.
Hence, agroecological practices like the System of Millet Intensification (SMI), line sowing, and line transplanting boost yields without chemicals, enhancing soil fertility and reducing women’s labour.
Market linkages via millet mandis and procurement by TDCCOL at Rs. 38/kg for ragi ensure fair returns.
Millet Shakti stalls, cafes and food festivals promote value-added products like ragi laddus, while PDS and ICDS integration ensures dietary inclusion. Mission Shakti SHGs drive millet enterprises, empowering women.
As of now, SAA has reached 243,256 farmers across 14,841 villages, with participatory varietal trials increasing yields by 20-30 per cent.
Financial incentives like DBT and CHCs spur adoption, though logistical barriers and delayed funds challenge remote regions.
The state’s corporate-driven promotion of hybrid millets undermines SAA’s goals and threatens farmers.
Hybrids replace diverse landraces like Mandia in Koraput, where Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSSC) plans to substitute 35 per cent of finger millet seeds, narrowing the genetic pool vital for resilient agriculture.
Unlike organic indigenous millets, hybrids require chemical inputs, depleting soil fertility and disrupting ecosystems in Odisha’s rainfed regions. Poorly adapted to erratic rainfall and undulating terrains, hybrids often fail, endangering livelihoods.
Lacking the taste and cultural value of local varieties, they alienate tribal farmers.
Non-reusable hybrids foster dependency on costly seeds, exposing farmers to corporate exploitation. Chemical residues may cause digestive issues, weakened immunity, or chronic illnesses, unlike contaminant-free indigenous millets.
Under these circumstances, a state-driven agenda, fueled by corporate seed companies, undermines SAA’s goals, sparking tensions with farmers and activists.
Initially, SAA prioritised indigenous seeds, aligning with biodiversity and sustainability. However, corporate lobbying has pushed OSSC and Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) to promote hybrids like GPU-28 and KMR-204, contradicting SAA’s ethos.
Activists call this a ‘government conspiracy’ to corporatise agriculture, akin to the paddy seed market’s corporate dominance.
OSSC’s plan to replace 35 per cent of Koraput’s finger millet seeds with hybrids threatens landraces and tribal food sovereignty.
Odisha’s Bt cotton history in Rayagada, with a 5,200 per cent acreage surge by 2018, displaced millets and indebted farmers — a pattern repeating under ‘Mo Bihana Yojana’.
The state’s contradictory support for indigenous seeds via LVRC while pushing hybrids exposes farmers to corporate exploitation.
This conspiracy exacerbates market dependency, as hybrid seeds, unlike reusable indigenous varieties, must be purchased annually, costing twice or thrice the indigenous seeds.
Seed companies exploit this reliance by offering high-interest credit or mandating costly chemical inputs, locking small marginal farmers into financial strain, especially during crop failures.
The Bt cotton surge in Rayagada entrenched economic distress, a cycle now threatening Koraput’s millet farmers. OSSC’s hybrid promotion erodes food sovereignty, escalates costs and undermines tribal cultural heritage, prioritising corporate profits over farmers’ well-being.
Unlike organically grown indigenous millets, hybrids rely on chemical inputs, leaving pesticide residues that pose serious health risks.
These contaminants may cause digestive disorders, weakened immunity, liver toxicity, or neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease, as evidenced in studies linking pesticide exposure to chronic illnesses.
The Bt cotton era in Rayagada saw increased skin irritations and respiratory issues tied to chemicals, a precedent now threatening millet consumers. Hybrids’ chemical-intensive cultivation diminishes nutritional quality, undermining the dietary health of tribal communities.
The NGO ecosystem supporting SAA faces significant challenges. While some NGOs work tirelessly with communities, earning respectability, others have tarnished the sector’s reputation.
Reports suggest certain NGOs import cheap ragi from neighboring states, with some caught red-handed but facing no action. Allegations of NGO leaders engaging in party politics, misusing funds for image-building or aspiring for political positions reveal systemic issues. Past unity efforts of collaboration collapsed, often undermined by internal conflicts or influential figures, breaking the spirit of Odisha’s NGO sector.
This has led to a negative public perception, with ‘NGO’ becoming a tainted term. Many NGOs have become subservient to government, CSR donors, or funding agencies, compromising their independence. Despite these challenges, dedicated NGOs continue to support SAA’s community-driven goals, though their efforts are hampered by a lack of accountability and unity.
India’s policies prioritise indigenous seeds, aligning with global commitments. The PPVFR Act, 2001, recognises farmers’ rights to save, exchange, and sell traditional seeds, empowering tribal communities to preserve millet landraces.
The National Biodiversity Act, 2002, emphasises agro-biodiversity, with millets central. SAA’s seed centers provide native varieties, while IIMR and OUAT document landraces, blending tradition with science to counter hybridisation. India’s leadership in the International Year of Millets (2023) and National Biodiversity Action Plan support the CBD, with SAA as a key contribution. FAO and IFAD endorse SAA’s agroecological model, though Odisha’s hybrid push undermines it.
Promoting millets advances SDGs 2, 12, and 13, obligating India to prioritise indigenous seeds.
In conclusion, SAA holds immense potential to revive indigenous millets, conserve biodiversity, and empower farmers. However, the state’s hybrid push and NGO ecosystem challenges threaten these gains.
Hybridisation risks biodiversity loss, market dependency, and health hazards, while NGO malpractices undermine credibility.
The state must reject hybrids, scale up community-managed seed systems, and strengthen FPOs. Addressing NGO accountability and fostering genuine unity among stakeholders will restore trust and credibility. Aligning policies with national and international mandates will empower farmers, restore millets to farms, plates, and cultural pride, and position Odisha as a global model for sustainable agriculture.
Views expressed are author's own and do not necessarily express those of Down To Earth.