When thousands of farmers burnt their fingers, cultivating paddy after the failure of northeast monsoon last year and kept their fingers crossed with monsoon playing truant this year, a set of farmers have demonstrated the wisdom of cultivating barnyard millet in this arid district. More than one lakh farmers had lost their paddy crops last year after the failure of the monsoon and this year too the farmers were not sure of successful harvest. But a section of farmers who had cultivated the drought-resistant barnyard millet (kudhiraivali) were jubilant as they awaited bumper harvest. After the intervention of the Agriculture department through Mission on Sustainable Dry land Agriculture (MSDA), a set of farmers in Mudukulathur block had cultivated barnyard millets on 25 hectares of seed farms, conveying the message loud and clear that it was high time farmers switched over to cultivation of millets and minor millets instead of relying on paddy. Barnyard millet cultivated in the seed farms at Keezhakulam, Siruthalai, Nallur and Sellur villages in Mudukulathur block present a picture of impressive growth despite adverse weather conditions and the farmers were extremely happy they chose the millet, said S.S. Shaiek Abdullah, Assistant Director of Seed Certification. “The lush green crops reached the maturity stage and the farmers are set to harvest 800 to 1,000 kg of barnyard millet per acre,” he said after inspecting a seed farm at Keezhakulam on Tuesday. While Ramamurthy, a farmer in the village, cultivated the millet, using line plantation method on the lines of paddy, farmers in other areas raised the crop in rain-fed areas, he said. Ramamurthy would have spent about ?10,000 towards transplantation and basal dose of fertilizer and he is set to earn net revenue of ?30,000 per acre as the department proposed to procure the seeds at the rate of ?50 per kg. This year, the department proposed to procure about 40 tonnes of seeds of barnyard millet, he said. Farmers who cultivated the millet for grain purpose could also make good money as it fetched about ?30 per kg in the market, Mr Abdullah said. The major advantage of the versatile crop was that it could withstand downpour or drought, he said adding the short duration millet also commanded good market. Farmers who cultivated paddy in rain-fed areas could try barnyard millet in at least half of their total cultivable areas to begin with, he suggested. This was high time, farmers realised that this minor millet was the ideal crop for 100% rain-fed areas in this arid district, he said.

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