Millet: An Ancient Super Crop for the Future

 

Millet

Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. 

Millets are important crops in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa (especially in India, Mali, Nigeria, and Niger), with 97% of millet production in developing countries. 

This crop is favored due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high-temperature conditions.

They are highly tolerant of drought and other extreme weather conditions and have a similar nutrient content to other major cereals.

Millet species

Pearl Millet

The most widely grown millet is pearl millet, called bajra in India.

Pearl millet is well adapted to growing areas characterized by drought, low soil fertility, and high temperature and is a popular food crop in India and Africa. 

It performs well in soils with high salinity or low pH. Because of its tolerance to difficult growing conditions, it can be grown in areas where other cereal crops, such as maize or wheat, would not survive. 

Pearl millet is a summer annual crop well-suited for double cropping and rotations. It accounts for about 50% of the total world production of millets.

Proso Millet

Proso millet—also called common millet, or broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum)—ripens within 60–80 days after sowing and is commonly used in birdseed mixtures. 

It is also eaten as a cereal food in Asia and eastern Europe and is used as a livestock feed elsewhere. 

Due to its extremely short life-cycle, it is often used in organic farming systems in Europe and as an inter-crop in US to avoid a summer fallow, and to achieve continuous crop rotation. 

Because of its low water requirements, it produces grain more efficiently per unit of moisture than any other grain species tested.

Foxtail Millet

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. 

It is a warm season crop, typically planted in late spring and has small pointed seeds. 

Harvest for hay or silage can be made in 65–70 days and for grain in 75–90 days. Its early maturity and efficient use of available water make it suitable for raising in arid and semi-arid regions. 

It is grown for hay in North America and western Europe, and it is an important food crop in China and other Asian countries. 

In South India, it has been a staple diet among people for a long time and is referred to often in old Tamil texts, commonly associated with Lord Murugan and his consort Valli.

Finger Millet

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) also known as ragi in India, kodo in Nepal and is an important food grain in southern Asia and parts of Africa. It is native to the Ethiopian and Ugandan highlands.

Interesting crop characteristics of finger millet are the ability to withstand cultivation at altitudes over 2000 m above sea level, its high drought tolerance, and the long storage time of the grains. Hence, it can be cultivated on higher elevations than most tropical crops.

The majority of worldwide finger millet farmers grow it rain-fed, although yields often can be significantly improved when irrigation is applied.

Japanese Millet

Japanese millet (Echinochloa frumentacea), also known as Indian barnyard millet, is grown chiefly in Japan and the US as a hay crop and as a cereal in South Asia. 

It is cultivated on marginal lands where rice and other crops will not grow well.  

While also being part of staple diet for some communities in India, these seeds are, in particular, (cooked and) eaten during religious fasting. Other common names to identify these seeds include oodalu in Kannada, Shyamak in Bengali, jhangora in the Garhwal Hills, bhagar in Marathi, samo or morio seeds in Gujarati, or kuthiraivaali in Tamil.

Little Millet

Little millet (Panicum sumatrense) is chiefly a food crop of India. This species is similar in habit to the proso millet except that it is smaller. 

It can withstand both drought and water-logging. It can be cultivated up to 2000 m above sea level.

In Harappa Civilization, little millet cultivation peaked at around 2600 BC, accounting for around 5% of the total cereal assemblage. 

The largest cultivation is in central India. The green plant can also be used in part as cattle feed. The straw can be mixed with clay or cement be used in construction.

Other varieties include Sonoran millet, Polish millet, Kodo millet, Guinea millet, Browntop millet and Sorghum among other varieties. 

History of Millets

The various species called millet were initially domesticated in different parts of the world most notably East Asia, South Asia, West Africa and East Africa. However, the domesticated varieties have often spread well beyond their initial area.

Palaeoethnobotanists, relying on data such as the relative abundance of charred grains found in archaeological sites, hypothesize that the cultivation of millets was of greater prevalence in prehistory than rice, especially in Indian, Chinese Neolithic and Korean Mumun societies.

Some of the earliest evidence of millet cultivation in China was found at Cishan (north), where proso millet husk phytoliths and bio-molecular components have been identified around 10,300–8,700 years ago in storage pits. Evidence at Cishan for foxtail millet dates back to around 8,700 years ago.

Evidence of the cultivation of millet in the Korean Peninsula dating to the Middle Jeulmun pottery period (around 3500–2000 BCE). Millet continued to be an important element in the intensive, multi-cropping agriculture of the Mumun pottery period (about 1500–300 BCE) in Korea.

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) was definitely domesticated in Africa by 3500 before present, though 8000 before present is thought likely.  Early evidence includes finds at Birimi in West Africa with the earliest at Dhar Tichitt in Mauritania.

Finger millet is originally native to the highlands of East Africa and was domesticated before the third millennium BCE. Its cultivation had spread to South India by 1800 BCE.

Millet in India

Little millet (Panicum sumatrense) is believed to have been domesticated around 5000 before present and Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) around 3700 before present in Indian subcontinent. Its cultivation peaked at around 2600 BC in Harappa Civilization.

In India, millets have been mentioned in some of the oldest Yajurveda texts, identifying foxtail millet (priyangava), Barnyard millet (aanava) and black finger millet (shyaamaka), thus indicating that millet consumption was very common. 

Even until 50 years ago millets was the major grain grown in India. From a staple food and integral part of local food cultures, millets have come to be looked down upon by modern urban consumers as “coarse grains” – something that their village ancestors may have lived on, but that they had left behind and exchanged for a more “refined” diet. 

Unfortunately, this said refined diet lacks the nutrients critically important for us.

Winds of change for Millets

Progress in scientific knowledge and technological innovations have led mankind into yet another stage of modern civilization. Application of novel research strategies into fundamental and transitional research has brought an all-round development. 

In agriculture, strategic technological innovations, viz. development and selection of high yielding variety, use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, mechanization and irrigation facilities, have resulted in sufficient availability of food.

Though several short-sighted measures have enhanced productivity but have undermined sustainability and are eroding the very capacity of resource base leading to nutrient deficient saline soil and lowering water beds. 

In addition, changing climatic conditions have further hastened the vulnerability of farmers towards declining crop production.

Dry lands constitute 40% of the global land surface and are predicted to elevate up to 50–56% by 2100, and 78% of dry land expansion is expected to occur in developing countries. 

According to the report of World Bank, hunger is a challenge for 815 million people worldwide. The spate of farmer’s suicides in an agriculture-based country like India has reached to an average of 52 deaths/day, and reports of farmers selling their blood to earn a livelihood in drought-hit region of the country depict the severity of the agrarian crisis.

Recent times have also seen lifestyle diseases like diabetes and obesity, with their accompanying complications like hypertension, heart diseases, stroke, depression and eating disorders among many others, reaching almost epidemic levels. Even becoming the leading cause of death in some high-income countries.

In such situations, sustainable crop substitutes are needed to meet the world hunger (cereal demand) and to improve income of farmers. In this the role of millets cannot be ignored for achieving sustainable means for nutritional and agrarian security.

Nutritional importance of millets

World is in the clinch of several health disorders and chronic diseases. As per 2016 Global Nutrition report, 44% population of 129 countries experience very serious levels of under-nutrition, adult overweight and obesity. 

A nutrient imbalanced diet is responsible for most of these diseases. India is the home of world’s largest undernourished population. About 194.6 million people, i.e. 15.2% of total population of India, are undernourished. 

According to the 2017 Global Hunger Index report, India ranked 100th among 119 countries. 

Obesity is also a major health concern in India with the prevalence rate of 11% in men and 15% in women. 

Millets secure sixth position in terms of world agricultural production of cereal grains and are still a staple food in many regions of world. These are rich source of many vital nutrients and hence, promise an additional advantage for combating nutrient deficiencies in the third world countries. 

Nutrient content of various raw millets with comparison to rice and wheat

Agrarian importance of millets

Millets cultivation can be a solution to the problem of water table depletion and challenges of increase in dry lands as these can grow on shallow, low fertile soils with a pH of soil ranging from acidic 4.5 to basic soils with pH of 8.0 and also have a low water requirement both in terms of the growing period and overall water requirement during growth.

The rainfall requirement of certain millets like pearl millet and proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) is as low as 20 cm, which is several folds lower than the rice, which requires an average rainfall of 120–140 cm.

Millets fall under the group of C4 cereals. C4 cereals take more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it to oxygen, have high water use efficiency, require low input and hence are more environment friendly. 

Thus, millets can help to phase out climatic uncertainties, reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and can contribute in mitigating the climate change.

The cultivation of millets can provide an overall solution to the existing agrarian challenges and can prove a milestone in achieving United Nations commitment to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.

Other health benefits

Due to its high resistance against harsh conditions, millets are sustainable to the environment, to the farmer growing it, and provide cheap and high nutrient options for all.

Nearly 40 percent of the food produced in India is wasted every year. Millets do not get destroyed easily, and some of the millets are good for consumption even after 10-12 years of growing, thus providing food security, and playing an important role in keeping a check on food wastage.

Millet is fibrous in content, has magnesium, Niacin (Vitamin B3), is gluten-free and has a high protein content.

According to traditional medicine, millet support digestion, improve appetite, nourish prana and blood deficiencies, increase lactation, harmonize the stomach, and calm the sleep.

Further millets are gluten free and might have anti-carcinogenic properties.

Way Forward

Millets can easily thrive in extreme conditions like drought, and some wild varieties can even prevail in flooded areas and swampy grounds. 

These have low glycemic index, abode gluten-free protein and are rich in minerals (calcium, iron, copper, magnesium, etc.), B-vitamins and antioxidants. These extraordinary traits make them nutritious and climate change compliant crops.

These can not only serve as an income crop for farmers but also improve the health of the community as a whole.

Existing limitations, i.e. the presence of anti-nutritional factors and low sensory acceptability of millet-based products, can be overcome by the scientific interventions. The anti-nutritional factors can be inactivated by processing methods like cooking, roasting, germination and fermentation. The sensory acceptability of millet-based products can be enhanced by mixing millet flours with other flours of high acceptability and preparing composite foods. 

The use of millets in commercial/packaged food will encourage farmers to grow millets and will

open new opportunities and revitalize the farmers. The inclusion of millet-based foods in international, national and state-level feeding programs will help to overcome the existing nutrient deficiencies of protein, calcium and iron in developing countries.