By Dr Indresh Kumar Pandey
Millet diplomacy is a foreign policy and cultural outreach strategy that uses millets to promote global food security, sustainable agriculture and traditional culinary heritage. During the recently concluded 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India turned its state banquets into a master class in soft power projection. Plates at Bharat Mandapam featured dishes like millet pulao and barnyard millet (jhangora) kheer, along with other traditional items. Earlier, at the G20 Summit held in 2023, which coincided with the International Year of Millets, various food items prepared from millets were served to international dignitaries. These efforts were focused on popularising millets globally.
Millets, also known as ‘Shree Anna’, Nutricereals or Coarse grains, is a term used for various small-seeded crops primarily cultivated in more than 131 countries as food crops in arid regions characterised by low-fertility soil and scarce moisture. Millets are often referred to as a nutritional powerhouse. Millets include Jowar (sorghum), Bajra (pearl millet), Jhangora (barnyard millet), Madua (finger millet), Kauni (foxtail millet), Kutki (little millet), and Chena (proso millet). These not only provide carbohydrates but also contain significant amounts of protein, fat, vitamins, fibre and essential minerals. Ramdana (Amaranth) and Kuttu (Buckwheat) are also categorised as pseudomillets. The history of Millets spans more than 5,000 years; archaeological findings from the Indus Valley Civilisation provide concrete evidence of their antiquity. Furthermore, these grains are mentioned in numerous ancient Indian texts—notably the Yajurveda, Sushruta Samhita, Kautilya’s Arthashastra, and Abul Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari, Abhijnanashakuntalam and the Kannada poet Kanakadasa’s Ramadhanya Charitra. Although these crops were once an integral part of our diet, they were overshadowed by rice and wheat following the Green Revolution. However, efforts are now underway to bring Millets back into the mainstream. India’s declaration of 2018 as the ‘National Year of Millets’ and the United Nations declaration of 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’ represent significant steps in this direction.
Millets are also considered allies of nature, as their cultivation does not require intensive effort. They can be easily grown with minimal water and on less fertile soil. Since they are largely unaffected by the adverse impacts of climate variability, they are also referred to as ‘climate-resilient crops’. Moreover, they are extremely easy to store and can be preserved for long periods. India is the world’s largest producer of millets. Promoting millets internationally and generating demand, thereby increasing global consumption, would be a positive step towards India becoming a global power. Today, as the entire world grapples with the issues of climate change and food security, India as the largest producer of millets, can lead the world by offering solutions. By widely adopting millets, we can easily achieve six of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. Overall, menu engineering is a powerful form of Gastrodiplomacy. At a time when the world is deeply concerned with sustainable agriculture and water insecurity is an emerging threat, millets offer a comprehensive solution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and combating food insecurity.
The economic implications of this millet diplomacy are significant. Millet diplomacy is inextricably linked to trade policy and market creation. India has a vast geographical region featuring hilly and arid terrains where millets can be grown easily. By popularising millets among global elites and international media, India stimulates global demand. This creates lucrative export markets for smallholder farmers, aligning domestic economic growth with international prestige. When the world is successfully convinced that millets are the future of food, India secures a competitive advantage as a primary exporter of the grain, its processed derivatives, and the agricultural technology required to cultivate it. This is particularly impactful given that India contributes one-fifth of global millet production, which accounts for eighty percent of Asia’s total output. As the world grapples with unstable geopolitical alliances, supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by regional conflicts and the escalating impacts of climate change, the diversification of the global food basket has become a matter of urgent concern. Millet being a climate-resilient crop addresses this urgency directly, especially in the current global landscape.
In conclusion, the strategic fusion of menu engineering and foreign policy via millet diplomacy demonstrates that soft power can be grown from the ground up. By deliberately designing culinary experiences around these ancient grains, India communicates complex policy agendas panning sustainability, economic solidarity and health in a universally understood language. The humble millet has been successfully rebranded from an overlooked crop into a symbol of diplomatic foresight. As statecraft continues to evolve, the menus of global summits have become critical arenas of influence and millet stands to be a game-changer not only in reducing India’s trade deficit but also in fulfilling the Indian philosophy of global well-being.
(The Author is Assistant Professor at Government PG College, Karnprayag, Chamoli.)
