By Matshediso Motshabi
To raise awareness and foster an understanding of the illustrious but long-forgotten golden grains, the Food and Agriculture Organization approved 2023 as the international year of millets. Since millets are native to many parts of the world, they were among the earliest plants to be domesticated. They are members of the grass/poaceae family, which is abundant in Asia and Africa’s semi-arid tropical regions. Due to their great nutritional value and use as both human and livestock feed, they are frequently referred to as “nutri-cereals.” They have been cultivated all over the world for more than 7,000 years and have long been a staple dish for hundreds of millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Their promise to address climate change and food security is not fully realized, and their cultivation is falling in many nations. As a result, scientists have set the year 2023 aside as the year when indigenous knowledge on millets is revived and this crop is researched to address challenges with food security and climate resilience.
Millets are often believed to be a poor man’s food, but they are actually a smart crop and a super food since they are beneficial to the environment and can be used in regenerative agriculture practices. It is resistant to abiotic stress, including extremes in soil quality, acute and protracted drought, and salinity. Its water requirements are 40% lower than those of maize, and it is less commonly attacked by diseases and plant pests. This crop has a high dietary fibre content, is gluten-free, has a low glycaemic index, is high in calcium and magnesium, and also contains essential macro- and micronutrients needed for child development and to address nutritional deficiencies, particularly in expectant mothers. It is also relatively high in protein when compared to maize and sorghum. Unfortunately, millets are neglected as the green revolution and circular economy are heavily emphasized on wheat, rice, and maize.
More than 20 different types of edible millets that are consumed around the world and divided into major millets and lesser millets are known to exist. The major millets are Pearl millet (grown in sub-Saharan Africa and south of the Indian subcontinent), Finger millet (semi-arid Africa and Himalaya region), Proso millet (Asia, Europe, and North America), Barnyard millet (found in Asia and Africa), Foxtail millet (grown in South India, South-east Asia, and Europe), and Kodo millet (grown in tropical Africa and the Indian subcontinent). The lesser millets include Sonoran millet, which is grown in the American Southwest, Little millet, which is found in temperate zones of Asia, Teff, which is grown in the Horn of Africa, and Fonio found in West Africa.
Even though this crop can survive in impoverished conditions, it responds to favourable circumstances like fertile soils, which improve its yield up to four times while also improving its resistance to disease. Overwatering, however, can lead to the development of fungi diseases. Animal feeds (silage or hay), poultry feed, alcoholic drinks, cookies, millet flat bread, millet porridge, and millet puffs are all added to the value chain of millet.
Due to its effective water utilization and quicker maturation than maize and sorghum, millet is a crop best suited for summer. Due to its sensitivity to frost, it cannot be grown in winter. If millet is produced exclusively for cattle feed, harvest it before it matures since, as it grows, the dry matter is essentially indigestible. Instead, harvest it at roughly seven weeks while the leaves are still green and soft for simple digestion. Even though aphids and armyworms attack millets, it is not their highly preferable crop since it is unpalatable and probably contains physiological traits (antibiosis), naturally occurring biochemical traits that ward off pests (antixenosis), and tolerance of pests.
The main objectives of FAO for the International Year of Millet are to increase public awareness of millets’ importance for food security and nutrition, motivate stakeholders to improve the quality and sustainability of millets’ production, and highlight the need for increased investment in extension services and R&D to increase millet production around the world. Perhaps if more Batswana took up millet production, it would help to enhance the nutrition of animals and poultry, minimize soil erosion, discourage further desertification, and increase national food security.
