Millet is the smallest of the world's staple grains.
Millets are a family of grasses that produce small but highly nutritious spherical grains. They were among the very earliest known cultivated grains, and their drought tolerance has made them a staple food for thousands of years throughout much of the world. There are over 6,000 named varieties of millet, but most cultivated varieties fall into five primary groups. Does this Spark an idea?
Pearl Millet
The most widely-grown millet varieties are the pearl millets. All millet is known for its tolerance of drought and heat, but pearl millets are unusually productive under poor conditions, even by millet standards. The grain grows on long spike-shaped seed heads, which are easily harvested by hand or machine. Pearl millet is a major staple in Africa, parts of the Arab world, and in India and Pakistan. India is the world's largest single grower, but Africa depends on millet the most.
Finger Millet
Finger millet is also an economically important crop in parts of Africa and the Indian subcontinent. It requires slightly more water and produces smaller grain, but fills a different niche from pearl millet. Finger millet is better suited to growth at higher altitudes, in cooler nighttime temperatures. Finger millet is grown primarily in the highlands of East Africa, and in the mountainous regions of India.
Proso Millet
Proso millet, also known as common millet, is the millet of choice for temperate regions where heat tolerance is less important. It is a major crop on the vast grain-growing plains of Eastern Europe, America, Australia and Argentina. Although drought is less of an issue in these bread-baskets of the world, there are years when wheat or rye cannot thrive, but millet does. Eastern Europe eats much of its millet; America uses it primarily as forage for livestock, while Argentina and Australia are primarily growers for the world market.
Foxtail Millet
Foxtail millets are named for their seed heads, which grow long feathery brushes that resemble the tail of a red fox. Foxtail millets are widely grown in China, as a food for humans and fodder for livestock. Foxtail varieties flourish in temperate climates, and are of little importance in Africa except for the Ethiopian variety known as teff, with its unusually tiny seeds. Smaller crops are grown in areas of India, Europe, Indonesia and Korea.
Minor Millets
A number of other millets, although not major crops, do have local importance in some parts of the world. Kodo millet still grows wild throughout parts of Africa and India, where it has also been cultivated for thousands of years. Barnyard millet, also called Japanese millet, is grown in tropical and subtropical areas of India and several other Asian countries. Little millet, a small-grained variety as the name suggests, flourishes in mountainous regions of India, Pakistan and Nepal, and is also grown in parts of Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Tags: Finger millet, millet also, areas India, Eastern Europe, Foxtail millets