Millet

The word millet is derived via Old French millet, millot from Latin millium, 'millet', ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mele-, 'to crush'.{{cite web |title=millet (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/millet |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=3 January 2025}}

Millets are small-grained, annual, warm-weather cereals belonging to the grass family. They are highly tolerant of drought and other extreme weather conditions and have a similar nutrient content to other major cereals.{{cite journal |last1=Fahad |first1=Shah |last2=Bajwa |first2=Ali A. |last3=Nazir |first3=Usman |last4=Anjum |first4=Shakeel A. |last5=Farooq |first5=Ayesha |last6=Zohaib |first6=Ali |last7=Sadia |first7=Sehrish |last8=Nasim |first8=Wajid |last9=Adkins |first9=Steve |last10=Saud |first10=Shah |last11=Ihsan |first11=Muhammad Z. |last12=Alharby |first12=Hesham |last13=Wu |first13=Chao |last14=Wang |first14=Depeng |last15=Huang |first15=Jianliang |display-authors=5 |title=Crop Production under Drought and Heat Stress: Plant Responses and Management Options |journal=Frontiers in Plant Science |volume=8 |date=2017-06-29 |page=1147 |pmid=28706531 |pmc=5489704 |doi=10.3389/fpls.2017.01147 |doi-access=free}}{{cite journal |last=Patan |first=Shaik Sha Valli Khan |last2=Vallepu |first2=Suneetha |last3=Shaik |first3=Khader Basha |last4=Shaik |first4=Naseem |last5=Adi Reddy |first5=Nanja Reddy Yellodu |last6=Terry |first6=Randall G. |last7=Sergeant |first7=Kjell |last8=Hausman |first8=Jean François |title=Drought resistance strategies in minor millets: a review |journal=Planta |volume=260 |issue=1 |date=2024 |issn=0032-0935 |doi=10.1007/s00425-024-04427-w |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00425-024-04427-w|url-access=subscription }}

File:Finger millet 3 11-21-02.jpg|Finger millet in the field

File:Panicum miliaceum0.jpg|Ripe head of proso millet

File:Millet In Kerala-3.jpg|Sprouting millet plants

In 1753, Carl Linnaeus described foxtail millet as Panicum italicum. In 1812, Palisot de Beauvois grouped several taxa into Setaria italica.

The genus Pennisetum was divided by Otto Stapf in 1934 into the section penicillaria, with 32 species including all the cultivated ones, and four other sections. In 1977, J. Brunken and colleagues classed the wild P. violaceum as part of the cultivated species P. glaucum (pearl millet).{{cite book |last=House |first=L. R. |chapter=Sorghum and millets: History, taxonomy, and distribution |editor=Dendy, David A.V. |title=Sorghum and Millets: Chemistry and Technology |year=1995 |publisher=American Association of Cereal Chemists |location=St. Paul, Minnesota |pages=1–9 |url=https://oar.icrisat.org/5486/1/Sorghum_&_Millets_Chemistry_and_Technology_1-9.pdf}}

Finger millet was described as Eleusine coracana by Joseph Gaertner in 1788.{{cite web |title=Eleusine coracana (finger millet) |date=2019 |url=https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1079/cabicompendium.20674 |publisher=CABI |doi=10.1079/cabicompendium.20674 |access-date=3 January 2025}}

The millets are closely related to sorghum and maize within the PACMAD clade of grasses,{{cite journal |author=Grass Phylogeny Working Group II| title=New grass phylogeny resolves deep evolutionary relationships and discovers C₄ origins | journal=New Phytologist |volume=193 |issue=2 |year=2012 |pages=304–312 |issn=0028-646X |doi=10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03972.x |pmid=22115274| bibcode=2012NewPh.193..304. | hdl=2262/73271 |hdl-access=free }} {{open access}} and more distantly to the cereals of the BOP clade such as wheat and barley.{{cite journal |last1=Escobar |first1=Juan S |last2=Scornavacca |first2=Céline |last3=Cenci |first3=Alberto |last4=Guilhaumon |first4=Claire |last5=Santoni |first5=Sylvain |last6=Douzery |first6=Emmanuel J. P. |last7=Ranwez |first7=Vincent |last8=Glémin |first8=Sylvain |last9=David |first9=Jacques |display-authors=5 |title=Multigenic phylogeny and analysis of tree incongruences in Triticeae (Poaceae) |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=11 |issue=1 |date=2011 |page=181 |pmid=21702931 |pmc=3142523 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-11-181 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2011BMCEE..11..181E }}

{{clade|style=font-size:100%;line-height:100%

|label1=(Part of Poaceae)

|1={{clade

|label1=BOP clade

|1={{clade

|1=Bambusoideae (bamboos)

|2={{clade

|label1=Pooideae

|1={{clade

|label1= Poeae

|1=Avena (oat), fescue, ryegrass

|label2=Triticeae

|2={{clade

|1=Hordeum (barley)

|2={{clade

|1=Triticum (wheat)

|2=Secale (rye)

}}

}}

}}

|2=Oryza (rice)

}}

}}

|label2=PACMAD clade

|2={{clade

|1=Aristidoideae

|2={{clade

|1=Panicoideae (most millets; sorghum; maize)

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Chloridoideae (finger millet; teff)

|2=Danthonioideae

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Arundinoideae

|2=Micrairoideae

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

}}

Within the Panicoideae, sorghum (great millet{{BSBI 2007 |access-date=14 December 2021 }}) is in the tribe Andropogoneae, while pearl millet, proso, foxtail, fonio, little millet, sawa, Japanese barnyard millet and kodo are in the tribe Paniceae.{{cite journal |last1=Morrone |first1=Osvaldo |last2=Aagesen |first2=Lone |last3=Scataglini |first3=Maria A. |last4=Salariato |first4=Diego L. |last5=Denham |first5=Silvia S. |last6=Chemisquy |first6=Maria A. |last7=Sede |first7=Silvana M. |last8=Giussani |first8=Liliana M. |last9=Kellogg |first9=Elizabeth A. |last10=Zuloaga |first10=Fernando O. |display-authors=5 |title=Phylogeny of the Paniceae (Poaceae: Panicoideae): integrating plastid DNA sequences and morphology into a new classification |journal=Cladistics |volume=28 |issue=4 |date=2012 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-0031.2011.00384.x |pages=333–356|pmid=34836451 }} Within the Chloridoideae, finger millet is in the tribe Cynodonteae, while teff is in the tribe Eragrostideae.{{cite journal |last1=Soreng |first1=Robert J. |last2=Peterson |first2=Paul M. |last3=Zuloaga |first3=Fernando O. |last4=Romaschenko |first4=Konstantin |last5=Clark |first5=Lynn G. |last6=Teisher |first6=Jordan K. |last7=Gillespie |first7=Lynn J. |last8=Barberá |first8=Patricia |last9=Welker |first9=Cassiano A. D. |last10=Kellogg |first10=Elizabeth A. |last11=Li |first11=De-Zhu |last12=Davidse |first12=Gerrit |display-authors=5 |title=A worldwide phylogenetic classification of the Poaceae (Gramineae) III: An update |journal=Journal of Systematics and Evolution |volume=60 |issue=3 |date=2022 |doi=10.1111/jse.12847 |pages=476–521|bibcode=2022JSyEv..60..476S }}

The different species of millets are not all closely related. All are members of the family Poaceae (the grasses), but they belong to different tribes and subfamilies. Commonly cultivated millets are:{{cite book |editor-last1=Taylor |editor-first1=John R.N. |editor-last2=Duodu |editor-first2=Kwaku G. |date=2019 |title=Sorghum and Millets: Chemistry, Technology, and Nutritional Attributes |edition=2nd |url=https://shop.elsevier.com/books/sorghum-and-millets/taylor/978-0-12-811527-5 |publisher=Elsevier |page=3 |isbn=978-0-12-811527-5}}

Eragrostideae tribe in the subfamily Chloridoideae:

• Eleusine coracana: Finger millet
• Eragrostis tef: Teff; often not considered to be a millet{{cite web |title=Sorghum and millet in human nutrition |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |year=1995 |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0818E/T0818E00.htm |access-date=2012-01-07 |archive-date=2018-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001231759/http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0818e/T0818E00.HTM }}

Paniceae tribe in the subfamily Panicoideae:

• Genus Panicum:
• Panicum miliaceum: Proso millet (common millet, broomcorn millet, hog millet, or white millet, also known as baragu in Kannada, panivaragu in Tamil)
• Panicum sumatrense: Little millet
• Panicum hirticaule: Sonoran millet, cultivated in the American Southwest
• Cenchrus americanus: Pearl millet

File:A closeup of Pearl Millet (Cumbu).JPG

• Setaria italica: Foxtail millet, Italian millet, panic{{Cite OED|panic}} from classical Latin pānicum (or pānīcum) Italian millet.
• Genus Digitaria: of minor importance as crops
• Digitaria exilis: known as white fonio, fonio millet, and hungry rice or acha rice
• Digitaria iburua: Black fonio
• Digitaria compacta: Raishan, cultivated in the Khasi Hills of northeast India
• Digitaria sanguinalis: Polish millet
• Genus Echinochloa: collectively, the members of this genus are called barnyard grasses or barnyard millets
• Echinochloa esculenta: Japanese barnyard millet
• Echinochloa frumentacea: Indian barnyard millet
• Echinochloa stagnina: Burgu millet
• Echinochloa crus-galli: Common barnyard grass (or cockspur grass)
• Paspalum scrobiculatum: Kodo millet

File:A closeup of Varagu millet with husk..JPG

• Genus Urochloa (formerly Brachiaria)
• Urochloa deflexa: Guinea millet
• Urochloa ramosa: Browntop millet, southern India{{cite web |title=Browntop Millet |url=https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_urra.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_urra.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=1 April 2018}}{{Cite book| publisher = Springer New York| isbn = 978-1-4419-0426-3| pages = 1021–1024| editor-last = Smith|editor-first = Claire| last1 = Kingwell-Banham| first1 = Eleanor| last2 = Fuller| first2 = Dorian Q.| title = Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology| chapter = Brown Top Millet: Origins and Development| location = New York, NY| access-date = 2025-01-15| date = 2014| doi = 10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2318| chapter-url = http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2318}}
• Spodiopogon formosanus: Taiwan oil millet, endemic to TaiwanTakei, Emiko (October 2013). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267747587_Millet_Culture_and_Indigenous_Cuisine_in_Taiwan Millet Culture and Indigenous Cuisine in Taiwan]. The 2013 International Conference on Chinese Food Culture, Kunming, Yunnan, China.

Andropogoneae tribe, also in the subfamily Panicoideae:

• Sorghum bicolor: Sorghum; usually considered a separate cereal, but sometimes known as great millet
• Coix lacryma-jobi: Job's tears, also known as adlay millet

The cultivation of common millet as the earliest dry crop in East Asia has been attributed to its resistance to drought, and this has been suggested to have aided its spread. Asian varieties of millet made their way from China to the Black Sea region of Europe by 5000 BC.{{cite journal |last=Lawler |first=A. |year=2009 |title=Bridging East and West: Millet on the move |journal=Science |volume=325 |issue= 5943|pages=942–943 |doi=10.1126/science.325_940 |pmid=19696328 }}

Millet was growing wild in Greece as early as 3000 BC, and bulk storage containers for millet have been found from the Late Bronze Age in Macedonia and northern Greece.{{cite journal |last1=Nesbitt |first1=Mark |last2=Summers |first2=Geoffrey |date=January 1988 |title=Some Recent Discoveries of Millet (Panicum miliaceum L. and Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.) at Excavations in Turkey and Iran |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Records-of-millet-from-the-Ancient-Near-East-and-Greece_tbl1_234002850 |journal=Anatolian Studies |volume=38 |issue=38 |pages=85–97 |doi=10.2307/3642844 |access-date=25 February 2019 |jstor=3642844 |s2cid=84670275 }} Hesiod states that "the beards grow round the millet, which men sow in summer."{{cite book |author=Hesiod |title=Hesiod, the Poems and Fragments, Done Into English Prose |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9uungEACAAJ |date=September 2013 |publisher=Theclassics Us |pages=fragments S396–423 |isbn=978-1-230-26344-1}}{{cite web |url=https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1091#Hesiod_0606_290 |title = The Poems and Fragments | Online Library of Liberty}} Millet is listed along with wheat in the third century BC by Theophrastus in his Enquiry into Plants.{{cite book |author=Theophrastus |author2=Arthur Hort |url=https://archive.org/details/enquiryintoplant01theouoft/page/78 |title=Enquiry into plants and minor works on odours and weather signs, with an English translation by Sir Arthur Hort, bart |year=1916}}

Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) and foxtail millet (Setaria italica) were important crops beginning in the Early Neolithic of China. Some of the earliest evidence of millet cultivation in China was found at Cishan (north), where proso millet husk phytoliths and biomolecular components have been identified around 10,300–8,700 years ago in storage pits along with remains of pit-houses, pottery, and stone tools related to millet cultivation.{{cite journal |pmid=19383791 |year=2009 |last1=Lu |first1=H. |last2=Zhang |first2=J. |last3=Liu |first3=K. B. |last4=Wu |first4=N. |last5=Li |first5=Y. |last6=Zhou |first6=K. |last7=Ye |first7=M. |last8=Zhang |first8=T. |last9=Zhang |first9=H. |last10=Yang |first10=X. |last11=Shen |first11=L. |last12=Xu |first12=D. |last13=Li |first13=Q. |display-authors=5 |title=Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago |volume=106 |issue=18 |pages=7367–7372 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0900158106 |pmc=2678631 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.7367L |doi-access=free }} Evidence at Cishan for foxtail millet dates back to around 8,700 years ago. Noodles made from these two varieties of millet were found under a 4,000-year-old earthenware bowl containing well-preserved noodles at the Lajia archaeological site in north China; this is the oldest evidence of millet noodles in China.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4335160.stm |title=Oldest noodles unearthed in China |work=BBC News |date=12 October 2005}}{{cite journal |last1=Lu |first1=Houyuan |last2=Yang |first2=Xiaoyan |last3=Ye |first3=Maolin |last4=Liu |first4=Kam-Biu |last5=Xia |first5=Zhengkai |last6=Ren |first6=Xiaoyan |last7=Cai |first7=Linhai |last8=Wu |first8=Naiqin |last9=Liu |first9=Tung-Sheng |display-authors=5 |title=Millet noodles in Late Neolithic China |journal=Nature |date=12 October 2005 |volume=437 |issue=7061 |pages=967–968 |doi=10.1038/437967a |pmid=16222289 |s2cid=4385122 }}

Palaeoethnobotanists have found evidence of the cultivation of millet in the Korean Peninsula dating to the Middle Jeulmun pottery period (around 3500–2000 BC).{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Gary W. |chapter=Prehistoric Plant Domestication in East Asia |editor1=Cowan C.W. |editor2=Watson P.J |title=The Origins of Agriculture: An International Perspective |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |location=Washington |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-87474-990-8 |pages=117–132 }}{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=Gary W. |first2=Gyoung-Ah |last2=Lee |title=Agricultural Origins in the Korean Peninsula |journal=Antiquity |volume=77 |issue=295 |pages=87–95 |year=2003 |doi=10.1017/s0003598x00061378 |s2cid=163060564 }} Millet continued to be an important element in the intensive, multicropping agriculture of the Mumun pottery period (about 1500–300 BC) in Korea. Millets and their wild ancestors, such as barnyard grass and panic grass, were also cultivated in Japan during the Jōmon period sometime after 4000 BC.{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Gary W. |title=Paleoethnobotany of the Kameda Peninsula |publisher=Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan |location=Ann Arbor |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-932206-95-4 }}

In the Zhengluo region of China, two millet species (foxtail millet and proso millet) were grown, enabling the people to survive the cooling of the global climate around 2200 BC.{{cite journal |last1=An |first1=Jingping |last2=Kirleis |first2=Wiebke |last3=Jin |first3=Guiyun |date=2019-11-01 |title=Changing of crop species and agricultural practices from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age in the Zhengluo region, China |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-019-00915-3 |journal=Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=6273–6286 |doi=10.1007/s12520-019-00915-3|bibcode=2019ArAnS..11.6273A |url-access=subscription }} Chinese myths attribute the domestication of millet to Shennong, a legendary Emperor of China, and Hou Ji, whose name means Lord Millet.{{cite book |last=Yang |first=Lihui |title=Handbook of Chinese Mythology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-533263-6 |pages=70, 131–135, 198 |display-authors=etal}}

Little millet (Panicum sumatrense) is believed to have been domesticated around 3000 BC in Indian subcontinent and Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) around 3700 BC, also in Indian subcontinent.{{cite journal |last1=Weber |first1=Steven A. |title=Out of Africa: The Initial Impact of Millets in South Asia |journal=Current Anthropology |date=April 1998 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=267–274 |doi=10.1086/204725 |s2cid=143024704 }}{{cite journal |last1=Pokharia |first1=Anil K. |last2=Kharakwal |first2=Jeewan Singh |last3=Srivastava |first3=Alka |title=Archaeobotanical evidence of millets in the Indian subcontinent with some observations on their role in the Indus civilization |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |date=February 2014 |volume=42 |pages=442–455 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2013.11.029 |bibcode=2014JArSc..42..442P }}

Pearl millet had arrived in the Indian subcontinent by 2000 BC to 1700 BC.

Browntop millet (Urochloa ramosa) was likely domesticated in the Deccan near the beginning of the third millennium BCE and spread throughout India though was later superseded by other millets. Various millets have been mentioned in some of the Yajurveda texts, identifying foxtail millet (priyaṅgu), Barnyard millet (aṇu) and black finger millet (śyāmāka), indicating that millet cultivation was happening around 1200 BC in India.{{cite journal |last1=Roy |first1=Mira |title=Agriculture in the Vedic Period |journal=Indian Journal of History of Science |date=2009 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=497–520 |url=https://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol44_4_2_MRoy.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol44_4_2_MRoy.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}} Upon request by the Indian Government in 2018, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations declared 2023 as International Year of Millets.{{cite web |title=International Year of Millets 2023 - IYM 2023 |url=https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/international-year-of-millets-unleashing-the-potential-of-millets-for-the-well-being-of-people-and-the-environment |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Food and Agriculture Organisation}}

Cultivation of Finger millet had spread to South India by 1800 BC.

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) was domesticated in the Sahel region of West Africa from Pennisetum violaceum. Early archaeological evidence in Africa includes finds at Birimi in northern Ghana (1740 cal BC) and Dhar Tichitt in Mauritania (1936–1683 cal BC) and the lower Tilemsi valley in Mali (2500 to 2000 cal BC). Studies of isozymes suggest domestication took place north east of the Senegal River in the far west of the Sahel and tentatively around 6000 BC.{{Cite journal |last1=D'Andrea |first1=A. C. |last2=Casey |first2=J. |title=Pearl Millet and Kintampo Subsistence |journal=The African Archaeological Review |date=2002 |access-date=18 May 2024 |jstor=25130746 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=147–173 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1016518919072 |doi=10.1023/A:1016518919072 |s2cid=162042735|url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=Katie |last2=Pelling |first2=Ruth |last3=Higham |first3=Tom |last4=Schwenniger |first4=Jean-Luc |last5=Fuller |first5=Dorian Q. |title=4500-Year old domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) from the Tilemsi Valley, Mali: new insights into an alternatives are cereal domestication pathway |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2010.09.007 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=312–322 |year=2011 |bibcode=2011JArSc..38..312M }}

Finger millet is native to the highlands of East Africa and was domesticated before the third millennium BC.{{cite book |title=Plant Genetic Resources of Ethiopia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKj__YqTU4AC&q=finger+millet+domesticated+ethiopia&pg=PA162 |isbn=978-0-521-38456-8 |last1=Engels |first1=J. M. M. |last2=Hawkes |first2=J. G. |last3=Hawkes |first3=John Gregory |last4=Worede |first4=M. |date=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}

Broomcorn or proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) came to Europe from East Asia as early as the 17th century BC in Vinogradnyi Sad, Ukraine.{{cite book |editor=Wiebke Kirleis |editor2=Marta Dal Corso |editor3=Dragana Filipović |url=https://www.sidestone.com/books/millet-and-what-else |title=Millet and What Else?. The Wider Context of the Adoption of Millet Cultivation in Europe |date=2022-04-15 |isbn=978-94-6427-015-0}}{{cite journal |last1=Dal Corso |first1=Marta |last2=Pashkevych |first2=Galyna |last3=Filipović |first3=Dragana |last4=Liu |first4=Xinyi |last5=Motuzaite Matuzeviciute |first5=Giedre |last6=Stobbe |first6=Astrid |last7=Shatilo |first7=Ludmila |last8=Videiko |first8=Mihail |last9=Kirleis |first9=Wiebke |date=2022-12-01 |title=Between Cereal Agriculture and Animal Husbandry: Millet in the Early Economy of the North Pontic Region |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10963-022-09171-1 |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=321–374 |doi=10.1007/s10963-022-09171-1}} At around 1500 BC it reached Italy and southeastern Europe; around 1400 BC it came to central Europe, and from 1200 BC, it arrived in northern Germany.{{Cite web |date=2025-01-21 |title=Millet in the Bronze Age: A Superfood conquers the World |url=https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/news/081-hirse-superfood |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Kiel University}}

Pearl millet is one of the two major dryland crops (alongside sorghum{{cite journal |last=Masaka |first=Johnson |last2=Chohunoita |first2=Collen |last3=Mupfiga |first3=Elvis |title=Soil moisture, dryland sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.) growth and grain yield responses to in-field rain water harvesting tillage methods |journal=Cogent Food & Agriculture |volume=7 |issue=1 |date=1 January 2021 |issn=2331-1932 |doi=10.1080/23311932.2021.1925004 |doi-access=free |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23311932.2021.1925004?needAccess=true}}) in the semiarid, impoverished, less fertile agriculture regions of Africa and southeast Asia.{{cite book |last=Baltensperger |first=David D. |chapter=Progress with Proso, Pearl and Other Millets |year=2002 |editor1=Janick, J. |editor2=Whipkey, A. |title=Trends in New Crops and New Uses |publisher=ASHS Press |location=Alexandria, Virginia |url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/pdf/baltensperger.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030421033516/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/pdf/baltensperger.pdf |archive-date=2003-04-21 |url-status=live }} Millets are not only adapted to poor, dry infertile soils, but they are also more reliable under these conditions than most other grain crops.

Millets, however, do respond to high fertility and moisture. On a per-hectare basis, millet grain production can be 2 to 4 times higher with use of irrigation and soil supplements. Improved varieties of millet with enhanced disease resistance can significantly increase farm yield. There has been cooperation between poor countries to improve millet yields. For example, 'Okashana 1', a variety developed in India from a natural-growing millet variety in Burkina Faso, doubled yields. This variety was selected for trials in Zimbabwe. From there it was taken to Namibia, where it was released in 1990 and enthusiastically adopted by farmers. 'Okashana 1' became the most popular variety in Namibia, the only non-Sahelian country where pearl millet—locally known as mahangu—is the dominant food staple for consumers. 'Okashana 1' was then introduced to Chad. The variety has significantly enhanced yields in Mauritania and Benin.{{cite web |author=ICRISAT |title=A New Generation of Pearl Millet on the Horizon |publisher=The World Bank |url=http://www.worldbank.org/html/cgiar/newsletter/Oct96/6millet.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204142835/http://www.worldbank.org/html/cgiar/newsletter/Oct96/6millet.html |archive-date=4 December 2010 }}

Millets are subject to damage by many insect pests, including corn borers, Stemborers, the caterpillars of numerous moths in the families Erebidae and Noctuidae, the millet midge, many species of flies in the Muscidae, Hemipteran bugs of many families including aphids, and species of thrips, beetles, and grasshoppers.{{cite book |last=Kalaisekar |first=A. |title=Insect pests of millets: systematics, bionomics, and management |publisher=Elsevier |publication-place=London |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-12-804243-4 |oclc=967265246}}

Among the many diseases of millets are serious fungal infections such as anthracnose, blast, charcoal rot, downy mildew, ergot, grain mould, rust, and sheath rot. Bacterial diseases are generally less serious; they include bacterial leaf spot, leaf stripe and leaf streak. Viral diseases are again generally less serious, except for a few diseases such as maize stripe virus, maize mosaic virus, sorghum red stripe virus, and maize streak virus.{{cite journal |last1=Das |first1=I.K. |last2=Nagaraja |first2=A. |last3=Tonapi |first3=Vilas A. |title=Diseases of millets |journal=Indian Farming |volume=12 |pages=41–45 |date=March 2016 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361164140}}

{{Infobox agricultural production

| year = 2022

| plant = millet

| country1 = {{IND}}

| amount1 =11.8

| country2 = {{NIG}}

| amount2 =3.7

| country3 = {{CHN}}

| amount3 =2.7

| country4 = {{NGA}}

| amount4 =1.9

| country5 = {{MLI}}

| amount5 =1.8

| country6 = {{SUD}}

| amount6 =1.7

| country7 = {{ETH}}

| amount7 =1.2

| country8 = {{SEN}}

| amount8 =1.1

| country9 = {{BFA}}

| amount9 =0.9

| country10 = {{CHA}}

| amount10 =0.7

| world =30.9

| source =FAOSTAT{{cite web |title=FAOSTAT |url=https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL/visualize |website=www.fao.org |access-date=28 February 2024}}

}}

In 2022, global production of millet was 30.9 million tonnes. India is the top millet producer worldwide, with 11.8 million tonnes grown annually – some 38% of the world total and nearly triple its nearest rival. Eight of the remaining nine nations in the top 10 producers are in Africa, ranging from Niger (at 3.7 million tonnes) to Chad (0.7 million tonnes); the sole exception is China, number three in global production, at 2.7 million tonnes.

File:A Woman Threshing Sorghum In Northern Ghana.png|A woman threshing pearl millet in Northern Ghana

File:Journal of Agricultural Research (1917) (14777745304).jpg|Proso millet with bacterial stripe disease

File:Milletoutput.png|Production of millet (2008) showing major producing regions of the world

Research on millets is carried out by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT){{cite web |title=ICRISAT overview |url=https://www.icrisat.org/icrisat-strategic-plan/ |website=ICRISAT |access-date=17 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803225819/https://www.icrisat.org/icrisat-strategic-plan/ |archive-date=3 August 2021}}{{cite web |title=Pearl Millet |url=http://exploreit.icrisat.org/profile/Pearl%20Millet/178 |website=ICRISAT |access-date=17 September 2021 |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529043747/http://exploreit.icrisat.org/profile/Pearl%2520Millet/178 }}{{cite web |title=Small Millets |url=http://exploreit.icrisat.org/profile/Small%20millets/187 |website=ICRISAT |access-date=17 September 2021 |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529043858/http://exploreit.icrisat.org/profile/Small%2520millets/187 }} and ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research{{cite web |title=Indian Institute of Millets Research |url=https://millets.res.in/ |website=millets.res.in |access-date=17 September 2021}} in Telangana, India, and by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service at Tifton, Georgia, United States.{{cite web |last1=Hanna |first1=W. |last2=Wilson |first2=J. |title=Pearl Millet Hybrids for Grain |url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/southeast-area/tifton-ga/crop-genetics-and-breeding-research/docs/pearl-millet-hybrids-for-grain/ |website=USDA-ARS |access-date=30 July 2021}}

In Ukraine, millet was historically a common ingredient in the diet of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, in the form of a porridge called "kulish". This dish, primarily made with millet, served with stewed vegetables and meat, cooked in a cauldron, remains a part of modern Ukrainian cuisine.{{cite web |title=Kulish |url=https://ukrainefood.info/recipes/soups/28-kulish |website=Discover Ukraine |access-date=2 January 2025}} In Germany, it is eaten sweet, for example with milk and berries for breakfast.{{cite web |title=Süßer Hirsebrei mit Milch und Beeren |url=https://eat.de/rezept/suesser-hirsebrei/ |website=eat.de |access-date=2 January 2025 |language=de |trans-title=Sweet Millet Porridge with Milk and Berries}}

In Russia, {{Interlanguage link|millet porridge|ru|3=пшённая каша}} also remains common and is promoted for its health benefits.{{cite web |title=Пшенная каша (4 секрета приготовления рассыпчатой каши) — Пошаговый рецепт приготовления с фото 2025 {{!}} Простые и вкусные рецепты в домашних условиях |trans-title=Millet porridge (4 secrets of making crumbly porridge) - Step-by-step recipe with photos 2025 {{!}} Simple and delicious recipes at home |url=https://www.edimdoma.ru/retsepty/42638-pshennaya-kasha-4-sekreta-prigotovleniya-rassypchatoy-kashi |website=EdimDoma.ru |date=14 September 2009}} Millet porridge made with pumpkin is particularly common. In the Lipetsk Oblast ritual and daily meals from millet include {{Lang|ru-latn|chichi}} ({{langx|ru|чичи}}). These are millet fritters.{{cite web |title=Рязанские чичи, сыроеги и калинники |trans-title=Ryazan chichi, syryogi and viburnum |url=https://rv-ryazan.ru/ryazanskie-chichi-syroegi-i-kalinniki/ |website=Рязанские ведомости (Ryazan News) |language=ru |date=4 April 2019}}

Millet is the main ingredient in {{lang|vi|bánh đa kê}}, a Vietnamese sweet snack. It contains a layer of smashed millet and mungbean topped with sliced dried coconut meat wrapped in a crunchy rice cake.{{cite web |url=https://dulich.vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/dau-chan/ba-nh-da-ke-mo-n-qua-va-t-cu-a-nguo-i-ha-no-i-3467611.html |access-date=7 December 2018 |title=Bánh đa kê - món quà vặt của người Hà Nội |language=vi |trans-title=Rice paper rolls - a snack of Hanoi people}} In parts of Africa millet is mixed with milk to make a drink, Brukina.{{cite web |url=https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/Burkina-Latest-millet-smoothie-in-town-278294 |title=Burkina: Latest millet smoothie in town |website=www.ghanaweb.com |access-date=2019-06-22 |archive-date=2019-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622103555/https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/Burkina-Latest-millet-smoothie-in-town-278294 }}

Finger millet is made into ragi rotti flatbread{{cite news |title=Ragi Roti Recipe |url=https://recipes.timesofindia.com/recipes/ragi-roti/rs57534900.cms |access-date=2 January 2025 |work=Times of India |date=4 December 2018}} and ragi mudde dough lumps in Karnataka.{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/article1419117.ece |title=Ragi Sangati |date=2008-06-21 |newspaper=The Hindu |access-date=2016-03-25}} Dough lumps are eaten as fura in the Sahel region of West Africa.{{Cite web |date=2020-09-11 |title=Relish The Fulani's fura |url=https://tribuneonlineng.com/relish-the-fulanis-fura/ |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=Tribune Online}}

File:Ragi Rotti & Chutney.jpg|Ragi rotti, finger millet flatbread, Karnataka, India

File:RAGI MUDDE.JPG|Ragi mudde, dough lumps of finger millet

File:Awaokoshi 01.jpg|{{visible anchor|Awaokoshi}}, candied millet puffs, are a specialty of Osaka, Japan.

File:Bánh đa kê.jpg|Bánh đa kê, a specialty sweet snack in Hanoi, Vietnam

File:Tongba.jpg|Tongba, a millet-based alcoholic brew from Nepal and Sikkim

In the Himalayas, including in Nepal, Sikkim, and Darjeeling, millet is fermented into Tongba, an alcoholic drink.{{cite news |last=Easen |first=Nick |title=Mountain High |publisher=Time

|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,596307,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015071154/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,596307,00.html |archive-date=October 15, 2009 |access-date=2009-08-29 | date=2004-03-01}}

In India, alcoholic beverages including rakshi are produced from millets.{{Cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Ashwani |last2=Tomer |first2=Vidisha |last3=Kaur |first3=Amarjeet |last4=Kumar |first4=Vikas |last5=Gupta |first5=Kritika |date=2018-04-27 |title=Millets: a solution to agrarian and nutritional challenges |journal=Agriculture & Food Security|volume=7|issue=1 |page=31 |doi=10.1186/s40066-018-0183-3 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2018AgFS....7...31K }}

Millet is sometimes used as a forage crop, to produce animal feed. Compared to forage sorghum, animals including lambs gain weight faster on millet, and it has better hay or silage potential, although it produces less dry matter. Millet does not contain toxic prussic acid, sometimes found in sorghum. The rapid growth of millet as a grazing crop allows flexibility in its use. Farmers can wait until sufficient late spring / summer moisture is present and then make use of it. It is ideally suited to irrigation where livestock finishing is required.{{cite web |last=Collett |first=Ian J. |title=Forage Sorghum and Millet |url=http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/146616/forage-sorghum-and-millet.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822230144/http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/146616/forage-sorghum-and-millet.pdf |archive-date=2008-08-22 |url-status=live |work=District Agronomist, Tamworth |publisher=NSW Department of Primary Industries |access-date=7 November 2013}}{{cite web |last=Robson |first=Sarah |title=Dr |url=http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/111190/prussic-acid-poisoning-in-livestock.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/111190/prussic-acid-poisoning-in-livestock.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |work=primefact 417, Prussic Acid Poisoning in Livestock |publisher=NSW Department of Primary Industries |access-date=7 November 2013}}{{cite web |last=Lonewood Trust |url=http://aussiesapphire.com/documents/SHIROHIE_MILLET_GROWING_GUIDE.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://aussiesapphire.com/documents/SHIROHIE_MILLET_GROWING_GUIDE.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title = Shirohie Millet Growing Guide | access-date = 7 November 2013}}

Per capita consumption of millets as food varies in different parts of the world, with consumption being the highest in Western Africa.{{cite web |title=Millet Industry Statistics in Africa {{!}} SME Blue Pages |url=https://smebluepages.com/millet-industry-statistics-in-africa/ |access-date=2024-08-21}} In the Sahel region, millet is estimated to account for about 35 percent of total cereal food consumption in Burkina Faso, Chad and the Gambia. In Mali and Senegal, millets constitute roughly 40 percent of total cereal food consumption per capita, while in Niger and arid Namibia it is over 65 percent (see mahangu). Other countries in Africa where millets are a significant food source include Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda. Millet is also an important food item for the population living in the drier parts of many other countries, especially in eastern and central Africa, and in the northern coastal countries of western Africa. In developing countries outside Africa, millet has local significance as a food in parts of some countries, such as China, India, Burma and North Korea.

People affected by gluten-related disorders, such as coeliac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and wheat allergy sufferers,{{cite journal |last1=Ludvigsson |first1=Jonas F |last2=Leffler |first2=Daniel A |last3=Bai |first3=Julio C |last4=Biagi |first4=Federico |last5=Fasano |first5=Alessio |last6=Green |first6=Peter H R |last7=Hadjivassiliou |first7=Marios |last8=Kaukinen |first8=Katri |last9=Kelly |first9=Ciaran P |last10=Leonard |first10=Jonathan N |last11=Lundin |first11=Knut Erik Aslaksen |last12=Murray |first12=Joseph A |last13=Sanders |first13=David S |last14=Walker |first14=Marjorie M |last15=Zingone |first15=Fabiana |last16=Ciacci |first16=Carolina |display-authors=5 |title=The Oslo definitions for coeliac disease and related terms |journal=Gut |volume=62 |issue=1 |date=2013 |pmid=22345659 |pmc=3440559 |doi=10.1136/gutjnl-2011-301346 |doi-access=free |pages=43–52 |url=https://gut.bmj.com/content/gutjnl/62/1/43.full.pdf |access-date=3 January 2025}}{{cite journal |last1=Mulder |first1=Chris J.J. |last2=van Wanrooij |first2=R.L.J. |last3=Bakker |first3=S.F. |last4=Wierdsma |first4=N. |last5=Bouma |first5=G. |title=Gluten-Free Diet in Gluten-Related Disorders |journal=Digestive Diseases |volume=31 |issue=1 |date=2013 |doi=10.1159/000347180 |pages=57–62}}{{cite journal |last1=Volta |first1=Umberto |last2=Caio |first2=Giacomo |last3=De Giorgio |first3=Roberto |last4=Henriksen |first4=Christine |last5=Skodje |first5=Gry |last6=Lundin |first6=Knut E. |title=Non-celiac gluten sensitivity: A work-in-progress entity in the spectrum of wheat-related disorders |journal=Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology |volume=29 |issue=3 |date=2015 |doi=10.1016/j.bpg.2015.04.006 |pages=477–491}} who need a gluten-free diet, can replace gluten-containing cereals in their diets with millet.{{cite journal |last1=Rai |first1=Sweta |last2=Kaur |first2=Amarjeet |last3=Singh |first3=Baljit |title=Quality characteristics of gluten free cookies prepared from different flour combinations |journal=Journal of Food Science and Technology |volume=51 |issue=4 |date=2014 |pmid=24741176 |pmc=3982011 |doi=10.1007/s13197-011-0547-1 |doi-access=free |pages=785–789 }} There remains a risk of contamination with gluten-containing cereals.{{cite journal |last1=Saturni |first1=Letizia |last2=Ferretti |first2=Gianna |last3=Bacchetti |first3=Tiziana |title=The Gluten-Free Diet: Safety and Nutritional Quality |journal=Nutrients |volume=2 |issue=1 |date=14 January 2010 |issn=2072-6643 |doi=10.3390/nu2010016 |doi-access=free |pages=16–34}}{{cite journal |last1=Koerner |first1=Terence B. |last2=Cleroux |first2=Chantal |last3=Poirier |first3=Christine |last4=Cantin |first4=Isabelle |last5=La Vieille |first5=Sébastien |last6=Hayward |first6=Stephen |last7=Dubois |first7=Sheila |title=Gluten contamination of naturally gluten-free flours and starches used by Canadians with celiac disease |journal=Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A |volume=30 |issue=12 |date=2013 |doi=10.1080/19440049.2013.840744 |pages=2017–2021|pmid=24124879 }}

The table shows the nutrient content of the grains of different species of millet, raw, compared to other staples.

• List of ancient dishes and foods

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Millet}}

• {{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/millet.html |title=Alternative Field Crops Manual

|chapter=Millets }}

• [https://www.allesbleibtanders.com/en/modules/rispenhirse/ Digital exhibition of European prehistory of Millet]

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Category:Cereals

Category:Plant common names