Along the driest arable margins of the vast Thar Desert that straddles the India-Pakistan border and across the dryland Deccan Plateau of central India, pearl millet is a staple cereal consumed by the poorest people.
Finger millet (unrelated to pearl millet) attracts a strong market as porridge in urban areas in Eastern Africa. Smallholder farmers with moderate access to water can earn high income from this crop.
The HOPE project, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, places great emphasis on training, communications and outreach to achieve impacts that benefit poor farm families in Africa and Asia.
Millet is the only cereal crop that is tough enough to reliably grow and produce food grain in the drought and heat-prone margins of the great deserts of Africa such as the Sahel and Kalahari. The crop is a crucial resource for human survival in these …
