Utilization

Although millet represents less than 2 percent of world cereal utilization, it is an important staple in a large number of countries in the semi-arid tropics, where low precipitation and poor soils limit the cultivation of other major food crops.

Millet utilization is mostly confined to the developing countries, even more so after production and utilization fell sharply in the CIS, the largest producer in the developed world. Accurate data are not available for most countries, but it is estimated that about 80 percent of the world's millet (and over 95 percent in Asia and Africa) is used as food, the remainder being divided between feed (7 percent), other uses (seed, beer, etc.,) and waste (Table 3).

Table 3. Millet utilization by type, region and selected countries, 1992-94 average.

		Direct food ('000 tons)	Feed ('000 tons)	Other uses1 ('000 tons)	Total ('000 tons)	Per caput food use (kg/yr)
Developing countries		21776	966	3767	26509	5.08
Africa		8673	187	2328	11188	13.40
	Burkina Faso	683	2	126	811	68.52
	Chad	217	0	41	258	33.73
	Ethiopia	108	0	153	260	1.97
	Mali	658	3	119	781	74.63
	Niger	1440	17	259	1716	162.45
	Nigeria	3315	100	1155	4570	31.50
	Senegal	505	5	83	593	61.61
	Sudan	364	20	76	460	14.14
	Tanzania	177	2	53	233	6.41
	Uganda	517	20	95	633	25.93
Asia		13103	748	1433	15284	4.17
	China	3277	327	257	3861	2.74
	India	9216	283	1100	10599	10.23
Central America and the Caribbean		0	0	0	0	0.00
	South America	0	31	6	37	0.00
Developed countries		513	970	323	1805	0.40
	North America	0	180	0	180	0.00
	Europe	0	4	1	5	0.00
	CIS	504	736	316	1555	1.73
	Oceania	0	1	0	1	0.00
World		22289	1936	4090	28314	4.00

1. For seed, manufacturing purposes and waste.
Source: FAO

Food use

Per caput food consumption of millet varies greatly between countries; it is highest in Africa, where millet is a key food staple in the drier regions. Millet represents about 75 percent of total cereal food consumption in Niger and over 30 percent in most other countries in the Sahel. It is also important in Namibia (25 percent of total cereal food consumption) and Uganda (20 percent).

Outside Africa, millet food consumption is important in parts of India, China and Myanmar. Utilization is negligible in Latin America, the Caribbean and all the developed countries. The exception was the former USSR until the late 1980s. However, under the economic transition process and the removal of price subsidies, utilization in the USSR/CIS fell sharply.

Millet is a high-energy, nutritious food, especially recommended for children, convalescents and the elderly. Several food preparations are made from millet, which differ between countries and even between different parts of a country. These consist primarily of porridge or pancake-like flat bread. However, because wholemeal quickly goes rancid, millet flour (prepared by pounding or milling) can be stored only for short periods.

Millet is traditionally pounded in a mortar, but mechanical dehulling and milling are increasingly used since they eliminate a considerable amount of hard labour and generally improve the quality of the flour.

Worldwide, millet food consumption has grown only marginally over the past 30 years, while total food use of all cereals has almost doubled. Millet is nutritionally equivalent or superior to other cereals². However, consumer demand has fallen because of a number of factors, including changing preferences in favour of wheat and rice (cheap imports are available in several countries), irregular supplies of millet, rising incomes and rapid urbanization. Particularly in urban environments, the opportunity cost of women's time has encouraged the shift from millet to readily available processed foods (milled rice, wheat flour, etc.,) that are far quicker and more convenient to prepare.

[². Protein contents in pearl, proso and foxtail millets are comparable with those in wheat, barley and maize. Finger millet has a slightly lower protein content, but is in fact nutrition-ally superior because the protein quality is generally as good or better than in other cereals. Finger millet is also high in calcium and iron, and contains fairly high levels of methionine, a major limiting amino acid in many tropical cereals.]

Animal feed

Utilization of millet grain as animal feed is not significant. It is estimated that less than 2 million tons, (about 7 percent of total utilization), is fed to animals, compared with about 30 million tons of sorghum (almost half of total output). In the developing countries, use of millet grain for animal feed is concentrated in Asia; very little is fed in Africa. However, millet fodder and stover are a valuable and critical resource in the crop/livestock systems where millet is grown.

Feed use estimates are heavily influenced by assumptions made for China, the world's third largest producer. In fact, little reliable information is available on feed use in this country. Based on very rough calculations of feed use in the CIS, it is estimated that about 1.0 million tons per annum are currently used as animal feed in the developed countries (Table 3). Western Europe, North America and Japan together use slightly over 200,000 tons, almost exclusively as bird seed. Recent increases in the use of pearl millet as a lower-cost substitute for maize feed in aquaculture and dairy and poultry farming in India and the southeastern United States are not well documented, and, in any case, at the moment represent only a small fraction of overall feed grain utilization.

Feeding trials have shown that pearl millet grain compares favourably with maize and sorghum as a high-energy, high-protein ingredient in feed for poultry, pigs, cattle and sheep. Nevertheless, very little millet is used as feed. First, as millet is grown mostly on marginal lands and production is barely sufficient to satisfy food requirements, little surplus is left for animal feed. Second, millet production fluctuates widely from year to year because of rainfall variability and drought in the main production areas. This deters a closer integration of millet production with intensive livestock operations. Third, millet yields are generally lower than those of other crops produced commercially in more favourable environments. Thus, production and transport costs are often prohibitive compared to alternative ingredients of compound feeds.

Other uses

There are few other uses of millet. Small quantities of finger millet are used in Zimbabwe for commercial brewing and opaque beer. Food technologists have experimented with the incorporation of pearl millet into composite flour, but the commercial application of this technology is limited.