Growth and Instability in Area, Production, Productivity and Consumption of Millets in India: An Analysis

Since the dawn of human civilization humans have depended on a large number of crops which are now being reduced to few only. Due to this growing dependency on few and fewer crops diversity of our food basket is also deceasing. Millets are very nutritious and healthy food which is gradually losing its area to commercial crops. Instability analysis by coefficient of variation (CV) and instability index suggested by Cuddy and Della revealed that over the years production and productivity of both pearl millet and finger millet showed higher degree of variation. Compound annual growth rates (CAGR) indicated that over time production and productivity of pearl millet has increased despite decrease in area under cultivation. In case of finger millet area under cultivation and production has declined and productivity has increased.