A request by India, which plans to establish itself as a major producer of millet worldwide, led to the United Nations designating 2023 as the International Year of the Millet. If you believe that millets are only now receiving the attention they deserve, you must congratulate Indian farmers and individuals who are promoting these cereals, including Dr. Khadar Vali, who is dubbed the "Millet Man of India."
Dr. Vali, an Andhra Pradesh native who received the Padma Shri award, now lives in Mysuru. He was born into a poor family in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. He worked in various sections of DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware in the USA for over five years before he ultimately settled down in Mysore in 1997.
He has been working tirelessly as an independent scientist who has undertaken several research projects in the food and health sector. He has been striving to revive millet for over 20 years; and he considers any other common grains like rice, wheat, and even milk as the root cause of lifestyle disorders.
The research and his passion for the same started in 1987 when he went to pursue his post-doctoral research fellowship in environmental science at Beaverton in Oregon, USA. While his research worked around deactivating deadly chemical substances such as dioxin from commercialized food, another incident triggered his campaign. He learned of a girl who had started menstruating at the age of six.
"This incident motivated me to research why a girl begins menstruating at age six in such a developed nation. After doing an extensive investigation, I discovered that the only thing that matters is the food we consume, which is wholly unhealthy. Rice and wheat are unnatural foods, and milk is genetically manipulated. However, we have been tricked by corporations into eating these foods,” said Dr. Vali, who went on to discover how millets can correct the numerous diseases brought on by rice and wheat.
The scientist remembers how millets were categorized as ‘bird feed’ in the late 1990s by nutrition experts and government bodies alike. This ended up projecting a very dreary image of millets and their future.
“I quit my job after realizing that people are being lured into consuming problematic items like rice, wheat, and milk. When I returned home, I toured the entire nation for 8 years, to gain samples of millet from old people. This was when I came across five seeds- kodo millet, foxtail millet, green millet, barnyard millet, and little millet. These can heal and even countermand the diseases caused by rice, wheat, and other products,” Dr. Vali said. Moreover. He has purchased barren land and then given training to thousands of marginalized farmers to grow the five seeds.
Vali believes that we have always had millet as a crucial part of our general diet until we were “sabotaged” by corporates that sell rice and wheat. While consuming and learning about millets, he came upon their healing properties which he says, can cure even the deadliest of diseases. Therefore, he has named these five millets, Siridhanya, which means ‘ultimate wealth’. Their cultivation involves following a practice known as ‘kadu krishi’ or ‘jungle farming’.
Since 2003, he has also recommended the use of Siridhanya, various plant/tree leaf decoctions, and homeopathic medicine in extreme circumstances when treating patients at the homeopathy clinic his daughter runs in Mysore. He asserts that Siridhanya consumption can aid in the prevention and treatment of conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, piles, gangrene, triglycerides, polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD), low sperm count, skin diseases, kidney, and thyroid-related disorders.
"India can feed the entire world with millet if the government implements the proper policies to capitalize on the production of millet and encourage marginalized farmers to cultivate more millet. Only 2% of the world's population will be millet consumers in 2023. To make the human race healthier, we will replace rice and wheat in the next 30 to 40 years, I am confident” Dr. Vali said. He further asserted that a silent revolution for the consumption of millets had indeed begun.
