Millets: The Climate-Resilient Solution to Global Food Security Challenges

Agriculture is facing the challenge of feeding the ever growing population that is projected to reach ten billion by 2050. While improving crop yield and productivity can address this challenge, the increasing effects of global warming and climate change seriously threaten agricultural productivity. Millets, hardy dryland crops that can grow with minimal inputs in Asian and African countries, are gaining popularity for their nutritional qualities, and therefore are an ideal solution for countries to increase self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imported cereal grains. Millets are recognized among the most ancient food grains domesticated for food. The earliest evidence of their cultivation found in the Indus civilization dates back to 3,000 BC. They are currently grown in 131 countries over 74 million ha spread across the globe but are largely concentrated in Asia and Africa. These include three major millets i.e., pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolour) and finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.); five minor millets i.e. foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.), barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea L.), little millet (Panicum sumatrense L.); and two pseudo millets i.e. buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) and Amaranthus species. India, Sudan, Niger, Nigeria, and Mali are the top five countries cultivating different millets and jointly account for 47% of the total millet area. The top millet-producer countries are India, the United States, Nigeria, China, and Ethiopia contributing 53% to millet production. Millet's cultivation has witnessed vast changes during the last six decades. Like other crops, there is an enhancement in their productivity from 0.7 t/ha in 1961 to 1.3 t/ha in 2020 registering an increase of 73% due to the development and adoption of new cultivars and agronomic production technology (FAOSTAT, 2023). However, the area under millets declined by 21% during the last six decades. Despite this, millet production has still gone up by 34% due to a tremendous increase in the mean productivity during the period from 1960 to 2020.