The survey showed that health and wellness were the most common factors influencing
consumption of millets in urban areas
The results of the first ever large-scale survey on millet consumption in India has been published, offering government, central and states and the private sector valuable insights into consumer trends to help further mainstream these nutricereals.
The results of the 15,500 face-to face survey, coordinated by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and reported in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, showed that improving health and wellness, weight loss and taste were the top reasons for those consuming millets in urban areas.
The survey undertaken in seven cities, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, was conducted in 2017 and data recently analysed in detail form an important baseline to track the changing consumer views about millets as more efforts are being made to promote millets.
The survery revealed that although there was a considerable proportion of people consuming millets frequently (49.6% said they consumed one or more times per week), there was also a reasonable proportion of people who had never or almost never consumed millets (34.9% never consumed millets or consumed up to two times a year).
Bengaluru led in terms of consumption frequency, reflecting its reputation for being a city with a liking for organic and health foods including millets and Karnataka was the first state to have a millet mission in India. Delhi had the lowest consumption frequency.