The Year the Borewell Failed, Sujatha Went Back to Millets

The borewell gave up in the second week of March.

Sujatha heard it before she saw it: the steady rush from the pipe turned into a cough, then a trickle, then air. The half acre of vegetables she was counting on for summer cash dried out within a week.

She has five acres of red soil near Pargi in Vikarabad district, land that soaks up the first rain and is dry again two days later. Her husband's family had grown cotton and some paddy there for years, as long as the bore held.

That summer they spent close to ₹1.5 lakh on a new borewell, deeper than the old one. It gave water for about two months and then thinned out too. The debt stayed.

Her mother-in-law, sitting in the shade with a winnowing tray, said something that stayed with Sujatha. "When I came to this house, we grew korralu and jonna on this land. Nobody had a bore then. We still ate."

The land had not changed. What had changed was how much water they were asking it to give.

Why do millets need less water?

Millets are adapted to hot, dry conditions. Most of them use water efficiently, grow quickly, and can survive dry spells that would badly damage paddy or cotton. Many need little or no irrigation in a normal monsoon.

Several things work in their favour:

• Short duration. Foxtail millet and several small millets mature in roughly three months, so the crop is often harvested before the soil dries out completely.
• Deep, spreading roots, especially in jowar, which reach moisture lower in the soil.
• Drought tolerance. Many millets can slow down during a dry spell and recover when rain returns.
• Fewer inputs. They are generally grown with less fertiliser and fewer sprays than cotton or paddy.

Millets still need care: timely sowing, good seed and early weeding decide the yield.

Which millets suit red soils in Telangana?

Jowar, foxtail millet, ragi, sajja (pearl millet) and small millets such as little millet are all grown on the light red and mixed soils of Telangana's rainfed areas. The best choice depends on your rainfall, soil depth and what you can sell.

• Jowar (jonna) grows well on deeper soils, gives both grain and good fodder, and is widely eaten.
• Foxtail millet (korralu) is short-duration and suits lighter soils. Its demand in town markets is growing.
• Ragi (ragulu) does well with a little protective irrigation and is valued as food for children and elders.
• Sajja (pearl millet) tolerates heat and poor soils well.
• Little millet (samalu) suits very light, shallow soils where little else grows.

Sujatha decided to start with two acres: one of foxtail millet and one of jowar, with rows of red gram in between as an intercrop, the way her mother-in-law remembered. She kept the rest under cotton, but for the first time she did not plan to irrigate it beyond what the weak bore could manage.

Are millets worth growing for money?

They can be, especially when you count the savings on water, fertiliser and sprays, but income depends heavily on finding a buyer. Demand for millet foods has been rising in cities, helped by growing interest in nutrition and by government promotion, including during the International Year of Millets in 2023.

Millets are rich in fibre and minerals, and many urban families now choose them for health reasons.

The government also announces a minimum support price (MSP) for some millets, including jowar, ragi and sajja, each season. But announcing an MSP is not the same as guaranteed purchase in your mandal. Ask your agriculture office whether procurement is happening for your crop this season, and where.

What are the real challenges with millets?

Millets are easy on water but have their own problems. Knowing them in advance avoids disappointment:

• Processing. Small millets like foxtail and little millet have a hard outer husk that must be removed before they can be cooked. Dehulling machines are not available in every village, and buyers often pay much more for clean, processed grain than for raw grain.
• Birds. Ripening millet heads attract flocks of birds, especially if yours is the only millet field nearby. Families often have to guard the field in the last weeks.
• Market access. Local traders may offer low prices for raw grain. The better prices are usually through FPOs, processors or direct sale.
• Weeds early on. Millets are slow in the first few weeks, and weeds can take over if they are not removed on time.
• Seed. Good seed of improved varieties is not always easy to find locally. Ask the agriculture office or KVK well before sowing.

Sujatha learnt about birds the hard way. Her children spent the last two weeks of the foxtail millet season on the bund with tin cans, and she still lost some heads.

Where do FPOs fit in?

Farmer producer organisations can solve several of these problems together: buying seed in bulk, sharing a dehulling machine, and selling graded grain to processors or city buyers at better prices than one farmer can get. In parts of Telangana, millet promotion programmes and FPOs work with rainfed farmers, though what is available differs by district.

Ask your Agriculture Extension Officer whether there is a millet FPO or a processing centre near you, and talk to them before sowing, not after harvest.

How to plan a millet crop, season by season

1. Before the rains: get your soil tested, decide which millet suits your land, and arrange seed and a buyer or FPO.
2. Sowing: sow with the onset of the monsoon once there is enough moisture in the soil. Late sowing often reduces yield.
3. First month: weed on time and thin the plants if they come up too thick.
4. Flowering to grain fill: watch for pests and plan bird protection as the heads ripen.
5. Harvest: cut when the grain is hard, dry it well and store it clean and dry.
6. After harvest: keep stalks for fodder, and note what worked for next season.

Sujatha uses the Mapis Farming crop cycle calendar for her millet fields. She entered her sowing dates, and the calendar shows the expected stage of each crop, so she knows when weeding should be finished and when to start guarding against birds. Before sowing, she checks the local weather advice on the app to see whether the rain is steady enough to sow into.

What changed for Sujatha

The first season was not perfect. She lost heads to birds and sold her foxtail millet raw to a trader for less than she had hoped. In the second season she joined a millet farmers' group with access to a dehulling unit, and the price for processed grain was noticeably better.

More important, her millets came through a long monsoon dry spell that badly hurt her neighbours' cotton. She spent almost nothing on irrigating them, and the jowar stalks fed her cattle well into summer.

She has not given up cotton. But she no longer bets the whole farm on a borewell.

If you are planning your sowing, read about timing monsoon sowing with the weather forecast, and try a simple soil test at home before choosing your crop.

Frequently asked questions

Which millets need the least water?

Most millets need far less water than paddy, sugarcane or cotton. Sajja (pearl millet), little millet and foxtail millet are among the most tolerant of dry conditions, and jowar copes well with dry spells on deeper soils. In a normal monsoon, many millets can be grown without irrigation.

Can millets be grown in red soil?

Yes. Jowar, foxtail millet, ragi, sajja and little millet are widely grown on the red and light soils of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Choose the millet according to your soil depth and rainfall, and get a soil test done before sowing.

When should millets be sown in Telangana?

Most millets are sown at the onset of the monsoon, once the soil has enough moisture. Late sowing usually reduces yield. Check the local weather forecast and the advice of your agriculture officer for the best sowing window in your district.

Is there an MSP for millets?

The government announces a minimum support price each season for some millets, including jowar, ragi and sajja. Procurement at MSP may not happen everywhere, so check with your agriculture office or the procurement agency in your state before counting on it.

What is the biggest problem with growing small millets?

Processing is often the biggest problem, because small millets need dehulling before they can be eaten, and machines are not available in every village. Bird damage near harvest and finding a fair buyer are also common challenges. Joining an FPO can help with processing and selling.