Millet is not easy to find in your local grocery store, so it’s understandable that little is known about the grain or the plant it comes from.

Pear Millet

Travel back in time 4000 years and you would have seen millet farmed in West Africa near the Sahara Desert.

– pearl millet –The most widely grown millet plant – is related to some of our favourite ornamental fountain grasses, with the scientific name Pennisetum glaucum. It is a gluten-free grain high in protein and fibre, and contains the highest calcium content of any cereal grain.

Waterwize 

In the face of accelerating climate change and environmental degradation, millets offer two important ecological benefits: low water requirements and contribution to soil restoration.

• A 2023 study found that millets require significantly less irrigation than rice and wheat, contributing to water saving in agriculture.

According to the CGIAR centre ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), millet cultivation requires 79 litres of irrigated water per kg compared to 596 and 729 litres per kg of rice and wheat, respectively. 

With agriculture using an estimated 70% of freshwater withdrawals, and water insecurity on the rise, upscaling the production of millet can make valuable environmental contributions. This low water requirement also makes millets a reliable cash crop for farmers in arid regions and offers an alternative for farmers in temperate climates whose usual crops are affected by climate change-induced heat and drought.

Triving in degraded soils

• Alliance trials of millet production in Colombia found that millets thrived even in degraded soils, making these grains ideal to regenerate degraded soils using agroecological practices such as crop rotation (alternating the crops grown on a piece of land, thus increasing the variety of soil nutrients) and mixed farming (integrating crops with trees and even livestock). By integrating millets into existing production systems, farmers could provide depleted soil with new nutrients without excessive inputs, contributing to efforts to reverse soil degradation. 

Nutrition 

Millets are rich in both macro and micronutrients.

It’s higher in protein than most other grains, and have high levels of fiber, B-complex vitamins and vitamin E; millets also contain relatively high quantities of minerals such as iron, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Mainstreaming millets in current food systems 

As interest in millets grows amongst various environmentalists, nutritionists and consumers, the United Nations declared 2023 ‘the International Year of Millets’, launching a year of awareness-raising events, campaigns, competitions and more, led by various organizations working at the cross-section of farming, environment and nutrition.

Now is the time for International organizations and governments to focus on developing enabling policies for farmers and food processors, supporting innovation in millet value chains and facilitating market access.  

Article courtesy of The Gardener