Making millet mainstream: Researchers advocate this neglected crop for nutrition security

Researchers are spotlighting millet, an underutilized but nutrient-dense and climate-resilient crop, as a solution for food insecurity at the Himalayan foothills. They stress that it is more nutritious than traditional staples like rice and wheat.

Published in Scientific Reports, the study examines how Nepal’s fertilizer use, cultivated area, and rural population impact millet production. On the positive side, climate change does not significantly affect millet production, as noted by the authors. However, its consumption rates are dropping due to low awareness and changing dietary habits.

With global food security impacting 820 million people from chronic hunger, the study underscores the need for greater agricultural productivity and diversification of nutrient-dense crops.

Millet for security

According to the authors, millets grow well in marginal conditions, adapt to diverse habitats, store well, and are easy to cultivate. Other benefits include food security and economic reliance in low and middle-income countries, especially mountainous and tropical regions rich in agrobiodiversity.

The plant grows in Asia and Africa, and researchers believe it has the potential to boost nutrition through sustainable agriculture.

The authors suggest boosting millet use through comprehensive activities, including government subsidies for seeds and fertilizers, agricultural services, food security programs, linking markets, consumer awareness campaigns, and investing in R&D, among other things. 

A recent study suggested that having such access to regional markets is more important to achieving a balanced diet for small farmers in low- and middle-income countries.

The researchers stress millet’s importance in mountainous areas with low arable land and frequent food shortages.Millet is also essential to Nepal’s cultural and culinary traditions. It is used in traditional beverages like jand, rakshi, and tumba, however, its consumption has dropped due to urban migration and changing dietary habits.

Increasingly, millets are neglected in Nepalese agriculture due to low productivity, product diversification, and lack of consumer and producer awareness. 

“Challenges in supply chains, low consumer awareness, and the stigma of labeling these crops as ‘famine food’ or ‘food for the poor’ hinder their expansion. Modern agricultural practices also have amplified these issues by reducing their diversity and removing them from the production system,” add the researchers.

The crop is also native to Nepal’s neighboring country, India. During the G20, its Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the nation’s commitment to nutrition through initiatives like free food grains for 800 million people, the Saksham Anganwadi and Nutrition 2.0 program for vulnerable groups and the promotion of millets for sustainable nutrition and food security.

Lack of diversity in diets 

The researchers stress millet’s importance in mountainous areas with low arable land and frequent food shortages. 

Millets grow well in marginal conditions, adapt to diverse habitats, store well, and are easy to cultivate.They say: “Nearly half of the world’s calorie and protein intake depends on three staple crops: maize, wheat, and rice. Although around 12,650 plant species are edible, people rely on only around 30 to meet 95% of global food needs, leaving most edible plants outside the main diet.”

“Once central to local diets and livelihoods, underutilized crops now receive little attention from agricultural research, plant breeders, and policymakers. On the other hand, rice, maize, and wheat demand fertile land, irrigation, and intensive management. They receive higher priority from governments and researchers but remain highly vulnerable to climate change. Staple crops, such as rice, wheat, and maize, provide primary caloric supplies with restrictive dietary diversity.”

According to the authors, proso millet and foxtail millet are valuable in areas where nutrition and dietary diversity are crucial because of their higher fat and energy content. 

The authors see Nepalese youth forgetting millet use in traditional diets due to their preference for wheat, maize, and rice. At the same time, women’s knowledge of food heritage plays an important role in preserving and diversifying millet-based culinary traditions.

In recent developments surrounding food heritage and security, East African nations have agreed to promote legislation to increase the consumption of traditional, indigenous, nutritious, and forgotten foods.

Nutrition Insight spoke to Ella Foods by Bharat Biotech, which revolutionizes Indian food and uses millet as a gluten-free alternative.