Miracle Seeds: How Millets, India’s “Forgotten” Food, are taking Centre Stage
Words by Anora Sandhu
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Miracle Seeds: How Millets, India’s “Forgotten” Food, are taking Centre Stage
At the 2024 Grammys, the song Abundance in Millets was nominated for Best Global Music Performance. Written and performed by Indian-American husband-wife duo Falu and Gaurav Shah, the song, as the title suggests, is a celebration of millets and their cultivation across India. The singers proclaim millets’ myriad benefits – as well as being naturally gluten free, abundant in fibre, protein, and zinc, and low in fat, millets have the potential to revitalize small farming communities and reform agricultural practices: they are a “wonder, an end to hunger.”
The song describes millets’ miraculous ability to defy certain paradoxes. A tiny seed with enormous planetary significance, the millet is rich in nutrients yet economical to produce; an “ancient melody” from the fields of India that will nourish people for thousands of years to come. “Once lost, now found”, the ‘re-discovery’ of millets is a gift from India to consumers around the world, a message echoed in the song’s fusion of American folk with elements from classical Indian music. While Gaurav sings in English, Falu invokes millets by their Hindi names – bajra, raagi, jowar, rajgira, kangni, among others – as a reminder to cherish India’s rich culinary traditions.
There are also unmistakable political overtones. One of the track’s collaborators is Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who is listed as one of the Grammy nominees. At moments during the song, we hear clips from the PM’s speeches on the importance of millets in protecting both farmers and the environment. Smiling photographs of Modi with rural farmers feature throughout the music video. The appearance of the BJP leader leaves Abundance in Millets somewhere between musical performance, public health campaign, advertisement, and carefully crafted political propaganda.
The Grammy committee’s recognition of Abundance in Millets is one example of a broader revivalist movement around millets as an answer to the serious climate and food security challenges facing the world today. The song, released in 2023, was intended to coincide with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s International Year of Millets – an initiative pushed by the Indian Government and indeed Modi himself. But what led to millets’ comeback on an international stage? Why did they disappear from our plates in the first place? And how does all of this intersect with Modi’s strategic positioning around critical issues of agriculture, health and climate?