Crop Science special issue: International Year of Millets

Abstract

To commemorate and spread the value and importance of millets at global level, the United Nations declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets. It is an opportunity to emphasize the uniqueness of millets grown in arid and drier semi-arid regions with low levels of inputs and presenting high resilience to adverse effects of climate (FAO, 2023). The term millets encompasses many cereals including sorghum, pearl, finger, proso, foxtail, little, browntop, kodo, barnyard, teff, fonio, and guinea millet species. Millets contribute to the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals mainly for zero hunger (contributing to food security via sustainable production), good health and well-being (critical element of healthy diet), decent work and economic growth (increasing opportunities to improve livelihood for smallholder farmers in challenged agro-ecologies), responsible consumption and production (increasing diversity of crops for the food system), climate action, and partnerships for the goal (supporting the main objective of climate-resilient agriculture; FAO, 2023).One of the most broadly grown millet is pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.], and it is the sixth most important cereal crop after rice, wheat, maize, barley, and sorghum for achieving self-sufficiency and food security, especially in agricultural systems of dryland semi-arid tropics. It plays a pivotal role as a multi-purpose climate-resilient cereal crop grown for both grain and forage/fodder purposes (Akplo et al., 2023;Sanon et al., 2014) with enhanced resilience to a variety of stressors including low soil fertility, high pH, drought, heat, and salinity (Chakraborty et al., 2022;Chaturvedi et al., 2023; Govindaraj et al., 2010). In addition, this nutri-cereal crop is gluten free, rich in essential micronutrients such as iron and zinc, and has high adaptability to water-limited environments particularly in the sub-Saharan Africa region, where other cereals would struggle or fail to be productive (Debieu