Dr. Khader Vali, a recipient of the Padma Shri, also known as the Millet Man of India, a pioneering Indian organic farmer and environmentalist is known for his innovative and sustainable agricultural practices for more than three decades. He hailed from Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, India, and dedicated his life to promoting organic farming and preserving traditional agricultural wisdom.
Despite spending more than three decades in the world of millets, Dr. Vali told The Hindu that his journey and interest is millets started as early as the age of six, “Way back, when I was six-years old, when I was in Andhra Pradesh, I visited my grandmother’s place in Anantapur district and that is when I consumed millets for the first time, until then I was eating rice as everybody else. The very next day I realised that my stools were very comfortable. Soon after that I started eating millets and avoided rice as much as possible”.
“As I got older and I studied biochemistry, the first thing that struck me was that rice was absolutely not meant for the human gut, as it pumps the blood with glucose in such a short span, and it disturbs the homeostasis of the blood. So, when you know that blood must not have more than five grams of glucose at any given time, I do not know how doctors and biochemists in the entire world have let this happen“, Dr. Vali added.
The Green Revolution
Dr. Vali believes that before the Green Revolution the entire world ate millets, “All over the world, the first domesticated grass, that is millets, could be grown anywhere. If you go back to literature from across the world, there is a mention of millets. It is the food human beings first had access to across the globe, it could grow in the mountains, near the deserts and everywhere else. It is something that has been consumed for thousands of years, it has references even in Indian mythology, Prophet Mohammed had barnyard millet porridge, Jesus‘ last supper was a bread made of brown top millet, but all these information has been consciously removed from the history”.
“The Green Revolution changed the way the entire world ate. It is not just healthy food, but the rights of the farmers that have been taken away in the name of the Green Revolution, sabotaging our food. Even today the agriculture departments across the world claim that the Green Revolution was necessary as there was a lack of food, when millets were easily available. It was these agriculturists who called millets fodder, animal feed, bird feed and lots more. Due to this many people in the villages that I visit also believe that millets are suitable for animals and birds, and not humans“.
Taditional methods
Dr. Vali has been an independent scientist ever since he began research on millets more than three decades ago. His approach to farming was deeply rooted in traditional and indigenous methods, emphasising the use of natural inputs and techniques to enhance soil fertility and crop productivity. He vehemently opposed the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, advocating for eco-friendly alternatives that nurtured soil health and biodiversity.
Dr. Vali also alarmed that the world would fall apart if its eating habits were not changed, “This is not just about changing eating habits of our country but also the entire world. The world will fall apart if the eating habits of humans are not changed. The only way we can make the world eat the right food is to tell the truth. We need to continue telling humans that this is the real food for the human gut and that is the only way”.
