Millets National Media Portal
Millets National Media Portal
Millets are recognized by the FAO, ICRISAT, and the United Nations as premier climate-smart crops — crops that simultaneously enhance food security, reduce vulnerability to climate change, and minimize environmental impact. The 2023 International Year of Millets declaration explicitly cited millets' climate resilience as a key driver for global promotion, particularly as climate change threatens the reliability of rice and wheat production.
Why millets are considered climate-smart:
Drought tolerance: As C4 plants, millets have superior photosynthetic efficiency and water use efficiency; sorghum, pearl millet, and foxtail millet can produce yields with as little as 300–400 mm annual rainfall — far less than wheat (400–500 mm) or rice (1,000–2,000 mm).
Heat resilience: Millets tolerate high temperatures (up to 40–42°C) that damage wheat and rice; critical resilience as global temperatures rise.
Marginal soil cultivation: Millets grow productively in nutrient-poor, sandy, or laterite soils where other cereals fail, reducing need for land clearance.
Low carbon footprint: Require minimal synthetic fertilizers and pesticides compared to rice and wheat, reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
Water conservation: Pearl millet requires approximately 50% less irrigation water than paddy rice, representing significant water savings in water-stressed regions.
Biodiversity contribution: Maintaining diverse millet cultivation preserves agricultural biodiversity, reducing reliance on a few monoculture crops vulnerable to single-pathogen collapse.
SDG alignment: Millets contribute to SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption) simultaneously.
Economic empowerment: Low input requirements reduce farmer costs and increase income sustainability for smallholder farmers in developing countries.
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