Millets and Pulses in India: Types, Producing States and Policy

Millets and Pulses in India: Definitions and Classification

Millets, Coarse Cereals and Nutri-Cereals

Indian agricultural statistics divide cereals into fine grains, which are rice and wheat, and coarse grains, also called coarse cereals, among them jowar, bajra, maize and ragi. The word millet is narrower than coarse cereal. Millets are only the small-seeded grasses, namely sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi) and the small millets, which are little millet (kutki), foxtail millet (kakun or kangni), proso millet (cheena), barnyard millet (sawa) and kodo millet. Maize and barley are coarse cereals but not millets.

In view of their nutritional value, the Government of India notified millets as Nutri-cereals in April 2018. The same crops are also promoted under the common name Shree Anna. The National Food Security Mission (NFSM) keeps millets apart from the other coarse cereals: One component covers maize and barley, and a separate Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals covers jowar, bajra, ragi and the small millets.

• Major millets: Jowar, bajra and ragi. In 2024‑25 bajra alone gave about 60 per cent of India's millet output.
• Small millets: Kodo, kutki, sawa, kangni and cheena, grown on small areas, chiefly in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Odisha.
• Coarse cereals that are not millets: Maize and barley, which statistics group with the millets as "nutri/coarse cereals".

Pulses as Legumes: Protein and Nitrogen Fixation

Pulses are the edible seeds of leguminous plants, cultivated for both food and feed. Strictly, they are the sub-group of legumes harvested for their dry seeds. The main Indian pulses are gram (chickpea, Cicer arietinum), tur or arhar (red gram or pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan), urad (black gram), moong (green gram, Vigna radiata), masur (lentil) and peas, with horse gram, cowpea and others grown locally.

Pulses enrich the soil through nitrogen fixation, the conversion of nitrogen gas from the air into a form plants can use. Rhizobium bacteria live in the root nodules of leguminous plants and fix nitrogen that benefits the host plant. This is why pulses raise the natural fertility of the soil and are valued in crop rotations. As food, they give about 20 to 25 per cent of the protein in Indian diets.

Types of Millets in India and Their Producing States

Jowar (Sorghum): Kharif and Rabi Crop of the Deccan

Jowar, or sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), is the main food crop of the semi-arid areas of central and southern India. In the southern States it is sown in both the kharif and the rabi seasons, but in northern India it is a kharif crop grown mostly for fodder. South of the Vindhyas it is a rainfed crop with a very low yield. In 2022‑23 only 12.61 per cent of the area under jowar was irrigated.

Maharashtra is the leading producer. In 2023‑24 it grew 37.48 per cent of India's jowar, followed by Karnataka (19.90 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (9.76 per cent), Rajasthan (9.53 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (6.94 per cent). India produced 4.74 million tonnes of jowar that year from 4.08 million hectares. The Class 12 NCERT textbook states that Maharashtra alone produces more than half of India's jowar; the 2023‑24 State figures give it a little over a third.

Jowar has lost far more land than bajra. Its area fell from 18.41 million hectares in 1960‑61 to 4.08 million hectares in 2023‑24, and its share of the gross cropped area was only 1.66 per cent in 2022‑23. Yields have risen over the same period, from 533 to 1,162 kg per hectare, so output has fallen much less than area.

Bajra (Pearl Millet): Hardy Crop of the Arid North-West

Bajra, or pearl millet, is sown in hot and dry conditions in the north-western and western parts of the country. It is a hardy crop that withstands frequent dry spells and drought, and it is grown both alone and as part of mixed cropping. It is a kharif crop, and in 2022‑23 only 12.72 per cent of its area was irrigated.

Rajasthan dominates bajra. In 2023‑24 it grew 41.34 per cent of India's output from 58.14 per cent of the area, followed by Uttar Pradesh (20.48 per cent), Gujarat (12.18 per cent), Haryana (10.83 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (9.36 per cent). India produced 10.72 million tonnes of bajra in 2023‑24, which makes it the largest millet by output.

Bajra's yield has risen faster than jowar's. The national yield rose from 286 kg per hectare in 1960‑61 to 1,453 kg per hectare in 2023‑24. In recent years higher yields in Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat have come from drought-resistant varieties and from irrigation reaching some of the crop. Rajasthan still has a lower yield (1,033 kg per hectare in 2023‑24) than Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat or Haryana, and only 4.08 per cent of its bajra area was irrigated in 2022‑23.

Ragi (Finger Millet) and the Small Millets

Ragi, or finger millet (Eleusine coracana), is a kharif crop of the southern and hill States. Karnataka produced about 1.15 million of India's 1.69 million tonnes of ragi in 2022‑23, about two-thirds of the total. Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Odisha follow far behind. Ragi held only 0.54 per cent of the gross cropped area in 2022‑23. The Odisha Millet Mission, launched in 2017, aims to revive millets, especially ragi, in the State's tribal areas.

The small millets are grown on small areas. In 2022‑23 India produced about 0.38 million tonnes of them. Madhya Pradesh produced the most (about 0.14 million tonnes), followed by Uttarakhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Chhattisgarh launched a Millet Mission in 2021, with a focus on kodo, kutki and ragi and on tribal farmers.

Taken together, the millets are concentrated in a few States. In 2022‑23 Rajasthan produced about 5.67 million tonnes of millets, nearly a third of the national total of about 17.32 million tonnes, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. Rajasthan led again in 2024‑25, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Growing Conditions of Millets and Pulses

Climate, Soils and Water Needs of Millets

Millets are crops of dry farming. In India they are grown in most States with low to moderate rainfall, from about 200 to 800 mm a year. They tolerate high temperatures, grow on poor soils with few external inputs, and finish their cycle quickly. These traits make them the hardiest grains in hot, drought-prone areas, and their low carbon and water footprint has earned them the name "crops of the future".

Most millet land is unirrigated. In 2022‑23 only about one-eighth of the area under jowar and bajra was irrigated, compared with 95.54 per cent of the area under wheat and 98.8 per cent of the area under sugarcane. Millets are therefore grown mainly where water is short.

Pulses Cultivation in India: Rainfed Drylands and Cropping Seasons

Pulses are grown mainly in the drylands of the Deccan and the central plateaus and in the north-west. Because most pulses are rainfed, their yields are low and change from year to year with the rain. The irrigated share has risen slowly, from 13.32 per cent of the area under pulses in 2001‑02 to 24.06 per cent in 2022‑23. Even so, about three-quarters of the land under pulses still depends on rain.

Pulses are grown in every season, and the season decides where each crop fits:

• Rabi pulses: Gram, masur and peas are sown in October and November, after the monsoon.
• Kharif pulses: Tur is sown with the onset of the monsoon.
• Pulses of more than one season: Urad and moong are grown in the kharif, the rabi and the spring or summer season, depending on the region.

The Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses plans to bring an additional 35 lakh hectares (3.5 million hectares) under pulses, targeting rice fallows (rice fields left empty after the kharif harvest) and other suitable land.

Types of Pulses in India and Their Producing States

Gram (Chickpea): The Largest Pulse Crop

Gram is India's largest pulse. In 2023‑24 it gave 11.04 million tonnes of the country's 24.25 million tonnes of pulses. It is a rabi crop of the subtropical areas, grown in the central, western and north-western parts of the country. One or two light showers or irrigations are enough to raise it, and in 2022‑23 about 39 per cent of its area was irrigated.

Madhya Pradesh led gram production in 2023‑24 with 26.40 per cent, followed closely by Maharashtra (25.69 per cent), Rajasthan (17.39 per cent), Gujarat (9.66 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (7.12 per cent). After the Green Revolution, wheat displaced gram from the cropping pattern of Haryana, Punjab and northern Rajasthan. Gram output has nevertheless doubled, from 5.36 million tonnes in 1990‑91 to 11.04 million tonnes in 2023‑24, and the leading gram States now lie in central and western India.

Tur (Arhar or Red Gram): Kharif Pulse of Marginal Lands

Tur, also called arhar, red gram or pigeon pea, is the second most important pulse in India. It is cultivated on marginal land under rainfed conditions in the dry areas of the central and southern States. In 2022‑23 only 5.74 per cent of its area was irrigated, far less than for gram, and its output per hectare is low and unsteady. India produced 3.42 million tonnes of tur in 2023‑24.

Karnataka was the largest producer of tur in 2023‑24 with 29.84 per cent, followed by Maharashtra (26.13 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (11.57 per cent), Gujarat (7.74 per cent) and Jharkhand (6.34 per cent). The Class 12 NCERT textbook names Maharashtra as the leader with about one-third of the output; Karnataka and Maharashtra are now close.

Urad, Moong, Masur and Other Pulses

The other pulses are smaller crops:

• Urad (black gram) and moong (green gram): Pulses grown in the kharif, the rabi and the summer season; the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses gives urad assured procurement along with tur and masur.
• Masur (lentil): A rabi pulse. In 2023‑24 Madhya Pradesh grew 45.98 per cent of India's 1.79 million tonnes, Uttar Pradesh 32.19 per cent, and West Bengal and Bihar most of the rest.
• Peas, horse gram and other pulses: Peas are a rabi pulse; horse gram, cowpea and several minor pulses are grown locally.

State Shares of Pulse Area, Output and Yield

Pulse production is concentrated in central and western India. Madhya Pradesh is the largest producer: In 2023‑24 it gave 24.64 per cent of India's pulses, followed by Maharashtra (16.53 per cent), Rajasthan (13.76 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (12.85 per cent). Rajasthan has the largest area under pulses, 19.88 per cent of the national total, but a yield of only 610 kg per hectare, the lowest among the leading States.

Production, Yield and India's Place in the World

Production Trends: Millets Decline in Area, Pulses Recover

Millets lost area for most of the last sixty years. Before the Green Revolution they made up around 40 per cent of all cultivated grains, a share that has fallen to around 20 per cent. India produced 180.15 lakh tonnes (about 18 million tonnes) of millets in 2024‑25, which was 4.43 lakh tonnes more than in the year before.

Pulses followed a different path. Production was 12.70 million tonnes in 1960‑61 and only 11.08 million tonnes in 2000‑01. It then rose from 19.26 million tonnes in 2013‑14 to 27.30 million tonnes in 2021‑22, and stood at 24.25 million tonnes in 2023‑24. The Third Advance Estimates for 2024‑25 put it at 252.38 lakh tonnes (about 25.2 million tonnes).

Pulses remain the smallest of the four foodgrain groups. In 2023‑24 India harvested 137.82 million tonnes of rice, 113.29 of wheat, 56.94 of coarse cereals and 24.25 of pulses, the same order as in 2005‑06.

Low Yields and the Protein Gap

Pulses yield far less per hectare than the cereals. In 2023‑24 they averaged 881 kg per hectare, against 1,453 kg for bajra and 3,559 kg for wheat. On the international figures of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for 2022, India's pulse yield was 769 kg per hectare, below the world average of 989 kg and far below Canada's 1,882 kg. Rainfed cultivation on marginal land keeps yields low and unsteady, which is why the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses stresses high-yielding, pest-resistant and climate-resilient varieties.

The low yield turns into a protein gap. Per capita consumption of pulses remains below the recommended 85 grams a day, and this shortfall contributes to protein-energy malnutrition. To meet demand, India imported 47.38 lakh tonnes (about 4.7 million tonnes) of pulses in 2023‑24 while exporting only 5.94 lakh tonnes. India is the world's largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses at the same time.

India as the Largest Producer of Millets and Pulses

As of 2025, India was the largest producer of millets in the world, with 38.4 per cent of global production. It is also the largest producer of pulses: In 2022 it produced 27.62 million tonnes of the world's 96.04 million tonnes, or 28.75 per cent. Canada, China, Russia and Nigeria follow far behind. India's lead in pulses comes from its very large area rather than from high yields.

Nutrition and Climate Resilience of Millets and Pulses

Millets for Health and Nutritional Security

Millets are nutritionally superior to rice and wheat in several ways. They contain more protein with a more balanced amino acid profile and more dietary fibre than some of the staple cereals. They are rich in minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese and zinc, and in B-complex vitamins. Millets are naturally gluten-free, and their low glycaemic index, high fibre and antioxidants help to tackle obesity and diabetes.

Two further points carry these qualities into food security:

• Public food schemes: Coarse grains and millets can be supplied under the Public Distribution System (PDS) in place of an equal quantity of wheat or rice when a State asks for it, and States have been asked to consider millets in the PM POSHAN school meal scheme. The Odisha Millet Mission serves ragi laddoos in Anganwadi centres.
• Farm resilience: Millets need few inputs and withstand heat and drought, so in hot, drought-prone years they are the most secure crop a small farmer can grow.

Pulses for Protein, Soil Health and Rainfed Farming

The United Nations declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses, and the FAO implemented it. Building on that year, the United Nations General Assembly later designated 10 February as World Pulses Day. The case for pulses rests on several advantages:

• Nutrition: Pulses are nutrient-dense, rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, and they add variety to diets.
• Soil fertility: They fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, improving soil biodiversity and fertility.
• Lower fertiliser use: Including pulses in crop rotations improves the efficiency of chemical fertiliser use.
• Rainfed cultivation: Most pulses grow on rain alone.
• Less waste: Their long shelf life reduces food loss and waste.
• Resilience and livelihoods: In multiple cropping systems they increase agrobiodiversity and resilience to climate change, and they give employment to rural women and youth.

Shifts in the Cropping Pattern and the Return of Millets

The push given to food security through the Green Revolution of the 1960s made millets "orphan crops", less consumed and almost forgotten. Their area was taken over by commercial crops, oilseeds, pulses and maize, which were profitable and were supported by subsidised inputs, incentivised procurement and inclusion in the PDS. On irrigated land in Punjab and Haryana, wheat displaced gram. Diets shifted with these changes towards fine, calorie-rich cereals.

The emphasis has since swung back towards millets. The main steps came in sequence:

1. 2018: Millets were notified as Nutri-cereals in April, and 2018 was celebrated as the National Year of Millets.
2. 2018‑19: The Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals of the National Food Security Mission began to support seed, demonstrations and training for millets.
3. March 2021: The United Nations General Assembly declared 2023 the International Year of Millets.
4. 2023: During the year India promoted millets as Shree Anna, and the Indian Institute of Millets Research of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), at Hyderabad, was announced as the Global Centre of Excellence on millets.

Government Policy for Millets and Pulses

International Year of Millets 2023 and Shree Anna

India proposed the International Year of Millets 2023, and 72 countries supported the proposal. India used the year to build demand for millets at home and abroad.

Support for millets now runs along the whole value chain:

• Processing: The Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Millet-Based Products has an outlay of ₹800 crore and supports branded ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products that contain at least 15 per cent millet.
• Exports: The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) promotes millet exports; India exported 89,164.96 tonnes of millets in 2024‑25.
• New varieties: During 2024‑25 the Central Variety Release Committee approved 276 new millet varieties, including 84 of sorghum and 80 of pearl millet.

National Food Security and Nutrition Mission and Nutri-Cereals

The National Food Security Mission was launched in October 2007, after the National Development Council resolved on 29 May 2007 to start a food security mission for rice, wheat and pulses. Its aim is to raise the output of these crops by expanding area and improving productivity in a sustainable manner in identified districts. Coarse cereals were added during the Twelfth Five Year Plan, and from 2018‑19, when oilseeds were brought in, the Mission had eight components, including NFSM-Pulses, NFSM-Oilseeds and Oilpalm, and the Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals. The Mission is now called the National Food Security and Nutrition Mission (NFSNM).

The Initiative for Nutritional Security through Intensive Millets Promotion (INSIMP) came before the Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals. It ran from 2011‑12 to 2013‑14 as a sub-scheme of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. It demonstrated improved production and post-harvest technology and value addition together in millet clusters, for the small, marginal and tribal farmers who have the largest stake in millets, and it set up centres of excellence for post-harvest value addition. From 2014‑15 it was merged into the Mission as NFSM-Coarse Cereals. Today the Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals covers 28 States and two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, and supports cluster demonstrations, certified seed, farm machinery, water-saving devices and training.

MSP, Procurement and Public Distribution of Millets and Pulses

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs announces the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for 14 kharif crops and six rabi crops, among them all the major millets and pulses. MSPs are fixed at a level of at least one and a half times the all-India weighted average cost of production, and the government offers higher MSPs for pulses, oilseeds and Shree Anna to encourage farmers to grow them. The kharif list also includes oilseeds such as groundnut and sesamum, and the rabi list includes barley; plantation and spice crops such as coffee, areca nut and turmeric are not on these lists.

An MSP helps only where the crop is bought. Under the Price Support Scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM‑AASHA), procurement of notified pulses, oilseeds and copra at MSP is capped at 25 per cent of national production from the 2024‑25 season. Tur, urad and masur are the exception: The Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses provides for 100 per cent procurement of these three pulses at MSP for four years through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation (NCCF).

Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, 2025‑26 to 2030‑31

The Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses (Dalhan Aatmanirbharta Mission) aims to make India self-sufficient in pulses. It was announced in the Union Budget 2025‑26, approved by the Union Cabinet on 1 October 2025 and launched by the Prime Minister on 11 October 2025, with an outlay of ₹11,440 crore. The target date for self-sufficiency is December 2027, with particular focus on tur, urad and masur, while the Mission's area, output and yield targets run to 2030‑31.

Its targets and tools are:

• Area and output: Pulses on 310 lakh hectares (31 million hectares), production of 350 lakh tonnes (35 million tonnes) and a yield of 1,130 kg per hectare by 2030‑31.
• Seeds: 126 lakh quintals of certified seed and 88 lakh free seed kits, traced through the SATHI portal.
• Assured purchase: Full procurement of tur, urad and masur at MSP in participating States for four years.
• Value chain: 1,000 processing and packaging units, each with a subsidy of up to ₹25 lakh.

Research Institutions for Millets and Pulses

Two national institutes of the ICAR lead the science of these crops. The ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, develops high-yielding millet varieties, trains small and marginal farmers in production and value addition, and helps form millet-based Farmer Producer Organisations. The ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur, carries out basic, strategic and applied research on the major pulse crops, breeds high-yielding varieties, produces breeder seed and coordinates pulses research through a network of testing centres across the country.

Sources

• NCERT: Class 12 Geography: India People and Economy, Chapter 3, Land Resources and Agriculture
• NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Chapter 5, Geomorphic Processes
• NCERT: Class 9 Exploration: Textbook of Science for Grade 9, Chapter 13, Earth as a System
• Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2024
• PIB: Third Advance Estimates of production of major crops, 2025‑26
• PIB: Cabinet approves Minimum Support Prices for Kharif Crops for Marketing Season 2026‑27
• PIB: Cabinet approves Minimum Support Prices for Rabi Crops for Marketing Season 2027‑28
• PIB: Cabinet approves continuation of the schemes of PM‑AASHA
• PIB: Promoting the Production of Millets, with State-wise millet production for 2022‑23
• PIB: International Year of Millets, India Leading the Way (March 2023)
• PIB: Shree Anna for Shreshta Bharat, Empowering India through Millets (August 2025)
• PIB: India's Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses (October 2025)
• Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare: Operational Guidelines of the National Food Security Mission
• Food and Agriculture Organization: World Pulses Day and the International Year of Pulses
• ISTI Portal: ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur
• UPSC: Civil Services Examination question papers