Due to global warming, water issues in agriculture will increase. While the whole world is faced with this problem, it is in India that Martine Dugué discovered the drought resistant ability of a cereal that has been unjustly marginalised. Millets don’t need much fertiliser or water, and have an amazing capacity to thrive even in drought…
Back to France, Martine discovers that her own grand ‘father was growing millets in his young age in the family farm. How ! in Europe, too, millets have been chased out from our fields…
She set up Terra Millet, a trust to promote this old traditional crop in Europe and to all concerned.
www.terramillet.com
Without any pretention, this documentary has been realised by a self-taught lady, with a very small budjet. However, the challenge is achieved : to catch your attention and to convince!
To go further about the water challenges :
The story of H.R. Jayaram, a lawyer who wanted to be an organic farmer : « Millets are going to be the future food. The Cavery water crisis can be sold if the government of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu decide to switch to millets which requires less water to grow ».
8 oct. 2013, by United Nations
Minor millets used to be a staple food in India, but in the last five decades, almost half of their cultivation has been replaced with more lucrative cash crops and government subsidized rice, resulting in a major change in people's diets. Millets have up to 30 times more calcium than rice and much higher levels of micro-nutrients. They are also far more resilient to a changing climate. But is this enough to convince people to return to a crop they've virtually abandoned? Take a look at how IFAD worked with the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation to get minor millets back on the menu.
Changing crop patterns and climate change- how India’s agriculture continues to suffer
https://yourstory.com/2017/05/changing-crop-patterns/