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Millets are the staple food of many tribal and indigenous communities. They are considered to be traditional crops because of their importance in history that is pre- Green Revolution period. But after the beginning of the Green Revolution the focus of farmers shifted on crops like wheat, rice and maize because of their inclusion in the subsidies and schemes. This led to underutilization of crops like minor millets, which are even more inferior to millets. It includes kodo millet, proso millets, finger millet, barnyard millet and foxtail millet. These are termed as ‘minor’ because of their marginalized value in trade and research, which is gradually evolving now because of health concerns and dietary diversity.
The study’s backdrop is set up in Haveri, Karnataka and aims to assess the role of on farm diversity w.r.t, minor millets in enhancing farmers’ economic well-being by their willingness to accept the compensation for increasing the cultivation of minor millets. The findings indicate that factors such as, sources of loan, area under minor millet cultivation, total land area owned by the farmers in previous year and few more have a significant impact on farmers willingness to accept subsidies to switch towards cultivation of minor millets. It also shows that farmers’ WTA differ for pure and mixed cropping, therefore, reflecting in the results. Through existing literature and some insights from the field it can be noted that cultivating minor millets has a positive impact on farmers incomes to some extent because of its environmentally friendly nature.
Subsequently, it contributes to the literature of minor millets enhancing farmers’ incomes and incorporating certain policy implications to integrate these traditional crops (majorly) in the farming system.
