Urban millet marketing and its effects on peasant livelihoods

• Applicant: Dr. Mirka Erler
• Subject Area: Human Geography
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 547167776

For centuries, millets were regarded in India as a poor man's food. This meant that, unlike rice and wheat, little research and development was carried out on millet. Particularly in urban regions, millets were practically forgotten as a foodstuff. Recently, however, scientists have been emphasizing the special properties of millet. Since the plant is particularly drought-resistant, it can cushion major crop failures. In addition, its nutritional properties can help combat both malnutrition and overnutrition. These findings have led to both an increased importance of millets in development practice and the marketing of millets as a superfood to India's urban middle class. This project investigates the impact of millet marketing to the Indian middle class on smallholder millet producers. Currently, the production volume of millets in India is too low to supply the entire population with millets on a regular basis. Furthermore, it is not clear whether and how millet as a cash crop affects smallholder livelihoods and subsistence consumption of millet. Women play a special role in this regard, as they have been responsible for sustaining millet cultivation and consumption in many smallholder communities for decades. In addition, due to the increased popularity of millet, a change in cultivation practices is foreseeable that has been insufficiently documented. Building on these research gaps, this project aims to find out:1) ... whether there are trade-offs between marketing and providing millet to malnourished populations.2) ... whether millet is established as a cash crop among peasants and what impact this has on peasantry livelihoods.3) ... whether the marketing of millet has an impact on subsistence consumption of mil-lets.4) ... whether and how the marketing of millets affects the living conditions of women in particular.5) ... whether marketing affects millet cultivation practices.Through these objectives, the project aims to contribute to several theoretical debates in human geography and beyond: superfoods or alternative foods in the Global South, the integration of livelihood approaches into theories of Global Production Networks and Global Value Chains, food as a commons, and "quiet sustainability." Within the framework of the Walter Benjamin-Programme, I would like to build up a profile as an economic and social geographer with a research focus on the interactions between consumption and production. My long-term goal is to be eligible for a professorship in human geography.

• DFG Programme: WBP Position