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Pearl Millet: A Hardy Staple
for the World's Drylands
The United Nations has designated 2006 the
International Year of Deserts and Desertification. During June in
particular, scientists, development professionals, and others
around the world will be turning their attention to the complex
challenge of curbing desertification and thus reducing a serious
threat to the livelihoods of the nearly 2 billion people who
inhabit drylands. Desertification hits the poor people hardest,
especially those who depend on agriculture for their
livelihoods.
One way in which the CGIAR has responded to this challenge is by
developing crop varieties that withstand harsh dryland conditions.
The hardiest of these staples is pearl millet - the only cereal
that reliably provides grain in drylands, even in sandy soils
having low fertility and low water-holding capacity. Responsibility
in the CGIAR for improving and promoting this crop worldwide
resides with the International Crops Research Institute for the
Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), headquartered in Patancheru,
India.
A Snapshot of the CGIAR's Work on Pearl
Millet
In 1996, ICRISAT received the 1996 King Baudouin Award for its
outstanding achievements in the development of disease-resistant,
higher yielding pearl millet cultivars in collaboration with
advanced institutions and national research programs.
Downy mildew, caused by the fungus Sclerospora
gramincola, is the most widespread and destructive disease of
the crop. In India during years of severe attack, up to 30 percent
of the harvest can be lost. Other major diseases affecting pearl
millet are smut (Moeszimyces penicikkariae), ergot
(Claviceps fusiformis Loveless) and rust (Puccinia
substriata). Below is a summary of recent achievements in
breeding for disease resistance and other important traits.
India
In 2005, collaborative research between ICRISAT and the Haryana
Agricultural University (HAU) led to the development of a new
hybrid, HHB 67-2, which is resistant to downy mildew. It is the
first ever product of molecular marker-assisted breeding in pearl
millet to be released for cultivation in India.
The new hybrid HHB 67-2, an improved version of the popular
pearl millet hybrid HHB 67, also resulted from the collaborative
research of ICRISAT and HAU. In January 2005, the original hybrid
was being grown on at least 400,000 hectares in Haryana and
Rajasthan States. By rapidly adopting the improved version, farmers
in these two states avoided grain losses worth about Rs 28.8
(equivalent in dollars), in the first year of a major downy mildew
outbreak.
During 2004, ICRISAT worked with Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University (TNAU) to develop the improved pearl millet variety Co
Cu 9. It is resistant to downy mildew, gives
higher grain yields than previously available varieties, under both
rainfed and irrigated conditions, and shows high grain protein
content.
In 2005, the Dutch Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), in
association with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the
United Nations and other partners, launched a collaborative project
to enhance the utilization of sorghum and pearl millet grains in
the poultry feed industry in India, China and Thailand. Sorghum and
pearl millet are potential alternatives to maize.
The three-year project is expected to increase the productivity
of the two crops, in addition to improving storage and bulking
facilities. Small farmers growing sorghum and pearl millet will be
linked with poultry feed manufacturers to boost demand for these
crops.
Africa
Early maturing pearl millet varieties have proved useful for
dryland communities in parts of Africa. The pearl millet variety
'Okashana 1', for example, which was selected by farmers in
Namibia and matures 4-6 weeks earlier than traditional varieties,
spread in just a few years during the mid 1990s to cover half the
country's millet area. The US$3 million investment required to
develop and disseminate the variety was estimated in 1998 to be
yielding annual benefits worth $1.5 million.
Fast Facts
- Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet,
accounting for about 50 percent of total world production.
- Today, pearl millet is grown on over 26 million hectares
worldwide.
- African farmers produce about 40 percent of the world's
millet, but India is the largest producer of the crop, both in
terms of area (about 9.1 million hectares) and production (about
7.3 million tons).
- Pearl millet is considered an "orphan" crop, along
with all other millets, cassava, taro, tef and cowpea. Orphan crops
are those that receive little research attention relative to their
value and importance. They are considered too difficult,
time-consuming and expensive to breed for a target market of poor
farmers.
- Pearl millet is one of the most drought-tolerant grains in
commercial production. It is tolerant of sandy and acidic soils due
to its deep roots and self-production of nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium.
- In the drier areas of Africa and Asia, pearl millet is the main
staple food grain. It is consumed in the form of leavened or
unleavened breads, porridges, boiled or steamed foods and alcoholic
beverages. In more favored areas, pearl millet grain is fed to
bullocks, milch animals and poultry.
- Pearl millet can grow up to 4 meters high and has variable
panicle length, seed size and color.
- The crop was domesticated as a food crop in the tropical region
of East Africa at least 4,000 years ago.
Prospects
Markets and Economics
The protein content of pearl millet is 45 percent higher than
that of feed maize; it is also 40 percent higher in lysine. These
factors have aroused interest in the grain among producers of
poultry and other livestock.
One of the main commercial outlets for pearl millet is the
broiler market. Lack of familiarity with the crop has limited its
use in other livestock feed markets. The most profitable market for
pearl millet is that for wild birdseed mixes.
Given that its feed value is comparable to that of maize, pearl
millet prices have generally been based on those for maize. But in
terms of yield, pearl millet cannot compete with maize or even
sorghum on fertile soils. It does have a competitive edge over
those crops, though, on sandier soils in dry environments.
Organizations also working on pearl millet
Despite the importance of orphan crops in the diets and
livelihoods of millions of poor people and their contribution to
national economies, they receive little scientific attention or
private research investment. Nonetheless, global trusts and
organizations are working to conserve and promote pearl millet and
similar crops.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust focuses on guaranteeing
effective conservation and availability of different crop varieties
around the world. Pearl millet is on the Trust's list of 38
priority crops.
The mission of the Global Facilitation Unit for
Underutilized Species is to promote and facilitate sustainable
use of underutilized plant species to increase food security and
alleviate poverty among the rural and urban poor. The Unit supports
and strengthens organizations and networks working on different
aspects of underutilized crops by providing improved access to
information and financial resources, increasing public awareness on
the role of underutilized species for improving livelihoods and by
giving advice to policymakers on how to encourage the deployment of
underutilized crops.
The mission of the International Center for Underutilized
Crops (ICUC) is to promote the use of these crops for the
benefit of humankind and the environment. The ICUC is a partner of
the CGIAR and is in a prime position to support and collaborate
with all CGIAR Centers. It works through partnerships with
international, regional and national research and civil society
organizations, NGOs and the private sector for the benefit of poor
people in 19 countries of Asia and Africa.
Click
here to view our Pearl Millet Photo Gallery
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