Millets

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Millets – tall grasses with heads of small seeds – grow in harsh environments where other crops generally fail. They are staple crops of many of the poorest people in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) and foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) are the most important millets.

A farmer displays harvested millet in Mali
A farmer displays harvested millet in Mali (Photo: ICRISAT)

Origin and use

Pearl millet was domesticated on the southern edge of the Sahara, west of the Nile, 3000 to 5000 years ago. Across Africa and Asia it is grown mainly for food and for feeding livestock. Finger millet is native to the Ethiopian highlands. It was introduced to India about 4000 years ago. As it is adapted to mountainous areas it can be grown at altitudes of up to 2,300 meters above sea level in the Himalayas. Foxtail millet is one of the world’s oldest cultivated crops, it is considered to be a native of China, where it is known from the Yang-Shao period dating back about 5000 years.

Pearl millet is a staple food for around 90 million people. Over 95% of pearl millet is used as food, made into porridge, or ground to make flat breads. After the grain has been harvested, the straw is fed to livestock. In north India pearl millet is grown for forage. It is also used as fuel and as a building material.

Ground finger millet is made into cakes, puddings and porridge. In Nepal and Africa it is fermented and made into beer.

Foxtail millet is one of the main food crops in China, especially among the poor in the dry north. In Europe and North America most foxtail millet is grown for hay, silage and birdseed.

Production

Pearl millet is grown on more than 29 million hectares in the arid and semi-arid tropical regions of Asia (11 million hectares), Africa (16 million hectares) and Latin America.

Pearl millet grows quickly meaning it can make the most of brief periods when conditions are favorable. Although yields are low, averaging 500 to 600 kilograms a hectare, pearl millet is more reliable than maize or sorghum in marginal areas.

India is the largest producer of pearl millet in Asia. In the three year period 2008-2010 about 9 million hectares were planted, producing about 8.3 million metric tons a year. The average yield was 930 kilograms a hectare. The area planted to pearl millet in India has fallen since the early 1980s but production has increased by 36% because yields have risen from 530 kilograms a hectare 1981-1983 to 930 kilograms a hectare 2008-2010, a 75% increase in productivity. Pearl millet accounts for 15-62% of the cereals consumed in major pearl millet growing states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Finger millet, accounting for 12% of the global millet area, is grown in more than 25 countries in eastern and southern Africa, and across Asia from the Near East to the Far East. The major producers are Uganda, India, Nepal and China. In India, finger millet is grown on 1.8 million hectares mainly in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Average yields are 1.3 metric tons a hectare a year.

Foxtail millet ranks second in total world production of millets with around 6 million metric tons a year. Most is grown on poor or marginal soils in southern Europe and in temperate, subtropical and tropical Asia. Like finger millet, it will grow at high altitudes of up to 2000 meters. As it grows quickly, it can be grown as a catch crop at the same time as, or in between, planting of a main crop.

Nutrition

Millet is nutritious, containing proteins, minerals, vitamins and micronutrients. Pearl millet is 9% to 13% protein, but there are large variations, from 6% to 21%. It also provides more energy than wheat, as the oil content, at 4.2%, is higher. Pearl millet is rich in B vitamins, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper and manganese.

Impact of CGIAR Centers

The main problems affecting millets in Asia and Africa are drought and disease. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has tapped the enormous range of genetic variability in the 22,000 accessions of pearl millet in its genebank in Hyderabad, India, to develop improved varieties. The new varieties are shorter and less likely to be damaged by wind and rain, and more able to withstand drought and disease, than unimproved varieties.

ICRISAT and NARS partners have produced improved open-pollinated and hybrid varieties which are grown on more than 4.5 million hectares. The diversity of high-yielding hybrids has not only improved productivity, but has also stemmed the return of the downy mildew epidemics that were common in the 1970s and 1980s.

New pearl millet hybrids that tolerate temperatures of 42°C and above give very high grain yields of 4-5 metric tons a hectare. The high yields mean it is worthwhile for farmers in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to grow them as an irrigated summer season crop.

In West and Central Africa 16.8 million hectares are under millets, mainly (95%) pearl millet. Since 1982, the area of pearl millet in this region has doubled. In eastern and southern Africa, pearl millet is grown on about 2 million hectares. Open-pollinated varieties developed by ICRISAT and national organizations have been released in ten countries in the region. Okashana 1 and Okashana 2 were adopted on a large scale and, in 2008, covered more than 50% of the total pearl millet area in Namibia.

ICRISAT has identified pearl millet genotypes with yellow endosperm rich in beta-carotene − the main dietary source of provitamin A. Millets with naturally occurring yellow endosperm could help alleviate deficiency in vitamin A, a major cause of blindness in developing countries.

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