Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Odisha Millets Mission (OMM), a five-year initiative to resuscitate millets in farms and diets, was started by the state of Odisha in 2017. The Odisha Cabinet further extended it in 2022, until 2026–2027. There are 62 tribal communities in Odisha. Local millet cultivars have a long history of preservation in tribal cultures. Odisha’s tribal farmers have been guardians of many millet types since the dawn of humanity.
These conventional kinds have made adjustments for regional conditions. Some of them can withstand pests and climate change better than others. These historic landraces frequently produce greater results under organic agricultural circumstances. Many of these historic landraces are in demand but difficult for farmers to find. But without standardized scientific operating standards, the government was unable to adequately assist the indigenous groups and custodial farmers who have preserved this asset. This has caused the biodiversity to disappear and the cultural legacy of indigenous tribes to disappear.
The Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment created a standard operating procedure for the first time in the nation in order to recognize, assess, and distribute these traditional landraces through the seed system for landraces under OMM. Additionally, technical experts, field NGO partners, representatives from ICAR and OUAT, as well as custodian tribal farmers, were consulted during the development of this system. When developing the standards, factors like as flavor, climatic resilience, pest tolerance, cultural preferences, and others were taken into account in addition to the usual scientific measures like yield.
Crop diversity blocks were used to chronicle landraces as part of the process. Farmers’ fields were also preserved, farmer preferences were mapped, seed standards were developed from a farmer’s perspective, and so on. Participatory varietal trials of both improved varieties and traditional landraces were also pursued. 163 millet landraces have been discovered as a result of this procedure. 14 of those landraces have demonstrated excellent promise. The release of 4 landraces—Kundrabati, Laxmipur Kalia, Malyabanta Mami, and Gupteshwar Bharati—under the landrace Seed system is being studied.
