Contribution Of Sorghum And Millets To Food And Food Security Case Study

2.4 Contribution of sorghum and millets to food and nutrition security
The main element guiding food security will be adoption of appropriate innovations and sustained efforts to intensify production of cereals like sorghum and millets among smallholder farmers. This is specifically so in arid environments where traditional cereals such as maize are underperforming. Yield levels for maize in these agro-ecological zones has declined from 1.2t/ha to 0.7t/ha in the past decade (Ministry of Agriculture, 2015). Sorghum and millets have the potential to contribute towards food availability if increased production and productivity is attained. According to (Svodziwa, 2015), sorghum and millets have a high percentage of availability compared to maize.
Despite their contribution to food security and establishment of sustainable agricultural systems their production seems to have declined. At present, world production of sorghum and millets has been gradually replaced by other cereal crops like wheat and maize. According to Mondal et al., (2016), in India, millet cultivation started declining during the green revolution. The Indian government started subsidising wheat, rice and maize mostly. These crops were promoted at a larger pace as compared to millets. This discouraged the cultivation of millets among in the
Due to the interaction of many drivers that impact on individual’s decisions, adoption of innovations like cultivating of sorghum and millets is not linear and immediate. Pursuing this further, Mukarumbwa, and Mushunje, (2010) highlighted that these constraints are, key among them, unclear context specific food security policies, weak institutions and underperforming markets for marginalised crops such as sorghum and millets. Though small grains play a major role in improving food security these disincentives discourage their uptake. Generally in Zimbabwe, there is inherently lack of support in production, processing and use of sorghum and millets. Their relative comparative advantage of tolerance to drought conditions is naturally overshadowed. The green revolution of the early 1980s also resulted in maize competing largely with sorghum and millets as major crops providing a staple for rural communities in semi-arid regions (FAOSTAT, 2013). This was due to adoption of hybrid maize varieties which were very much compatible with these areas. Coupled with these challenges, changes in tastes and preferences from millets and sorghum to maize by most smallholder farmers has led to decreased production of the former while creating space for the