Millets for Life: A Brief Introduction

Millets or nutri-cereals are high-energy foods; that were domesticated and cultivated as early as 10,000 years ago. The millets cultivation is taken up usually in degraded and marginal lands that receive very less rainfall and are poor in soil nutrient content. Seven important millets cultivated globally are finger millet, pearl millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, proso millet, kodo millet, and little millet. Overdependence on cereals after the green revolution and the present-day sedentary lifestyle of people has proliferated health-related disorders like obesity, diabetes, coronary diseases, gastrointestinal disorders and risk of colon, breast, and oesophageal cancer. The only way to fight back is through the introduction of nutritionally rich millets in our daily diets. Millets are unique for their richness in dietary fibers, antioxidants, minerals, phytochemicals, polyphenols, and proteins; that act as elixir to fight against health-related disorders. Recent global phenomenon of climate change has lead to a decrease in the yield of major staple cereals and has paved path for introduction of millets into agriculture production system to formulate climate resilient cropping systems because millets are C4 plants with very superior photosynthetic efficiency, short duration, higher dry matter production capacity, and a high degree of tolerance to heat and drought. Keeping the above advantages of millets, the efforts have hastened to collect, conserve, and utilize germplasm of millets in breeding programs. Of late, several private and government agencies have ventured into value addition of millets to manufacture food and non-food products. But, the governments have a key role in formulating policies to promote cultivation and consumption of millets.