Millets is the collective name for a group of small-seeded grasses that are grown as cereal crops for using their grains in human consumption or as animal feed. Millets were among the first domesticated crops, with some being grown as early as 7 000 years ago, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Millets have been staple crops in many regions where plant cultivation conditions are difficult because they are well adapted to dry conditions and nutrient poor soils.
The term millets, origins from the word thousand in French (mille), implying that a handful of millets contains thousands of grains. Millets include a diverse group of coarse grain crops, which are actually not very closely related, although they all belong to the grass family known as Poaceae. The most commonly grown millets are pearl millet, finger millet, proso millet and foxtail millet. Other types of millets are fonio, barnyard millets, kodo millet, browntop millet, little millet and Guinea millets. Two other important crops which are sometimes included among millets are sorghum (also called great millet) and teff.
Pearl millet, which accounts for more than half of the millets areal (excl. sorghum), was first domesticated in the Sahel region of West Africa, but is also widely grown in India. Pearl millet can grow to be 0.5 to 4 meters tall, with oval seeds measuring 3-4 mm and ranging in colour from white to yellow, brown and purple.
Finger millets got the name from the resemblance with fingers of a human hand. It is mostly grown in eastern and southern Africa as wellas in India and Nepal. The crop varies in height from 0.4 to 1 meter, and the grains are smaller than pearl millet. The grains are long-lasting and can be stored up to 50 years.
Sorghum consists of several different species, where of Sorghum bicolor is the most commonly grown in Africa. The total areal of sorghum production is significantly higher than for the other kinds of millets, and it is also more commonly grown outside Africa and Asia. The United States is the world’s largest producer of sorghum.
Millets, including sorghum and teff, are annual crops. Most of them have short growing season, some as short as 60 days, in contrast to rice, wheat and maize which can often require 100-150 days. Just like maize, millets are C4 plants, which means that they have a more efficient photosynthesis in warm environments, high water-use and nitrogen-use efficiency, and that they are more tolerant to high temperatures than C3 crops like rice. They are resistant to many pathogens and pests and do not require high inputs of pesticides. The root systems are usually deep, which makes them cope well with both drought periods and high intensity rainfall.
In many arid and semi-arid regions the soils are nutrient poor and precipitation pattern is very diverse and erratic with long periods of drought, followed by extreme rainfall events. As millets are very robust and can be grown in nutrient poor soils, they are well adapted and more reliable than other crops under tough and difficult conditions. However, millets do respond to both fertilization and water supply. Hence, there is generally a potential for higher yields in case the growing conditions can be improved.
Millets serves as a staple crop for food in semi-arid regions. They are naturally gluten-free with low glycemic index and serve as a good source of protein, fibers and several minerals, including iron. Millets also serve as an important source of high-quality fodder for livestock, both as green forage and dry fodder. For example, finger millets and barnyard millets are used to produce silage and hay.
Millets are traditionally grown for local consumption, and cultivation for selling or export is quite rare. There are no large or stable markets for these products. This is partly because of the uncertainty in the crop yield, which results in a very unstable price situation for these crops. The interest in, and demand for, traditional crops outside the regions where they are grown, has also been low, even though some of the crops have gained an increased interest lately.
Cereals such as millets, sorghum and teff are examples of typical indigenous and traditional crops. Other examples of indigenous and traditional crops are cassava, plantain or cooking banana, quinoa, leafy vegetables and the oil seed noug.
Over the last decades, there has been a general displacement of indigenous and traditional crops in favor of other crops such as maize, rice and wheat. These crops are higher yielding, more input intense, but also less resistant to climate change and environmental chocks such as droughts or floods. However, there is a more stable market for these crops and possibilities to sell the yield is better. As a result, traditional crops are being grown on less land.
Kumar, A. et al. (editors). 2021. Millets and Millet Technology. Springer. ISBN 978-981-16-0676-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0676-2
The Food and Agriculture Orgnizarion of the United Nation's website about the International Year of Millets 2023 https://www.fao.org/millets-2023/en
Photos: Pexels, Flickr and Wikimedia Commons
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