Foxtail Millet Cultivation: A time For Alertness

Required Responsiveness For Foxtail Millet Farming

 Well, we can find many important and survival based primitive crops like rice,wheat,

maize,etc which have been running from ages  and among them" Foxtail Millet" is also one of them. It's  name sounds quite different. It is named as foxtail millet because their spikelet somehow resemble the bushy tail of the fox.Morever, according to the country, it is called by different names such as Kaguno in Nepali, Korrallu in Telugu, Awa in Japanese , Jo in Korean , Priyangu in Sanskrit ,etc. It's scientific name is Setaria italica. It is included in grass family in Poaceae.It is believed to be originiated from China. It is cultivated in many Asian countries (especially more in China) and America,Africa,etc. It is the world's second cultivated crop of fingermillet family according to  the cultivated area ,as per report. It is also the oldest crop cultivated in Nepal but is becoming very for cultivation these days.The case has also been same all over the world which is becoming troublesome, but we should realize that  this crop can be a great option for preventing food security issues.

                        

Foxtail Millet is a special type of crop which can be grown well in adverse climate and environment i.e it can be cultivated in less fertile soil easily, tolerates hailstorm and drought ,can be grown in semi-arid regions and is not that sensitive cereal in comparison to others. It takes three-four months for harvesting.It is a C4 photosynthetic crop. It can be cultivated on well drained loamy soil and in saline soil having pH 5-8. It grows 2-5ft tall.In warm weather,it grows rapidly. It is sensitive to frost. There are various pests found in this crop such as army worm,cut worm,shootfly,leaf scrapping beetle,etc and many diseases are also seen like blast,brown spot,rust,grain smut ,green ear,etc. Such disesases and pests can be treated well by applying recommended amount of fertilizers. It is  used to manufacture bread pancakes,snacks ,chapattis,roti, dhindo and also  alcoholic beverages can be prepared.

This crop is very nutritive crop, since it contains 12.3gm protein,60.9 gm carbohydrate,4.3 g fat,8gm crude fiber,331Kcal energy,31 mg calcium and 290 mg Phosphorus per 100gm of its weight. It contains several amino acids like Tryptophan, Lysine, Leucine ,Phenyl Alanine,Histidine,etc and several vitamins like Niacin,VitaminB6,vitaminA,vitaminE,Thiamine,etc.Pottasium, iron, magnesium,sodium, manganese,etc micronutrients are also found. This crop is found to be beneficial more for the good health of the people and such health benefits are that it makes heart healthy, regulates blood pressure, fights cancer, helps for diabetes control, anti-ageing, maintains brain growth ,reduces LDL level in  the body ,helps in weight loss and it is also enriched with antioxidants which provides support for building immunity in the body. Therefore,we can know how important is this crop for pregnant women, lactating female and children. This crop is also provided as a feed for birds and is found very nutritive for them too. If we realize in a humble manner, this crop is much required as it provides food, fodder, nutrition and survival security.

As we all know that, the world is facing various difficulties of food security issues due to the upgrading climate change factors, which is a burning issue kept prioritized for effecting agricultural sector in a huge manner;  and in this sense we can know that foxtail millet farming can be a much needed option for the livelihood security. Viewing the present scenario, the seed production of this crop is less and thereby supply is also less in various states as not being established and recognized crop all over world.But it is also saddening to say that the areas where it used to be produced are also not producing in a sufficient manner,where it has been kept as an dominant crop.The cause for this maybe due to the lack of awareness and consciousness in our society. Lets think about future, lets aware our farmer community along with general people and start its cultivation properly.