Millets are an integral part of food systems, livelihoods and the culture of tribal and rural households in rain-fed agro-ecologies. Millet cultivation in India has been showing a declining trend due to low yields and profitability, penetration of commercial crops, climate-induced production risks, labour intensity, poor mechanisation, lack of an enabling policy environment and weak consumer demand.
Recent policy prioritisation, growing consumer demand for nutrient-dense diets and targeted technological interventions have catalysed a partial revival of millet cultivation in certain parts of the country, especially in Odisha state. The mission mode approach has created an enabling environment for reviving millet production and marketing. At the meso level, research and development institutions nudged activities that interlinked the unconnected links in the millet value chain through innovative pathways. At the micro-level, technological innovations have motivated the revival of millet production.
Technological innovations – context-specific, bundled for synergistic benefits, and disseminated through a gender-responsive lens – have enhanced productivity, reduced women’s drudgery and influenced access to and ownership of community assets, including seeds, inputs and farm machinery. The evolving political economy of millet production is reshaping gender relations across the value chain, influencing decision-making at the household, farm and societal levels, and affecting food and nutrition security. These transformations yield both opportunities and constraints for women and other intersectionally marginalised groups. This chapter employs a feminist political ecology framework to critically examine these gendered and political–economic shifts, with a focus on pathways for embedding gender mainstreaming in the millet sector.