“We dropped millet and started importing rice from Asia. Now we only know how to eat rice and we don’t produce enough. We only know how to eat bread. We do not produce wheat.” Macky Sall, President of Senegal
Food insecurity is one of the greatest challenges facing the global community, particularly in drought-prone regions like Africa. One of the most sustainable and effective ways to ensure food security is by strengthening domestic crop production. Relying on overseas imports for a lifeline as vital as food supply can deepen food insecurity in vulnerable regions, creating a ripple-effect in human capital and economic trends.
Analysts are pointing to the need of increasing productivity and trade within Africa and adding value to products like maize by improving the processing industry.
Consensus is that maize production must increase three-fold in sub-Saharan Africa to meet the needs of future generations. However, recurring droughts remain a continuous challenge to its production, hence the introduction and adoption of improved drought-tolerant maize varieties to increase output in order to protect livelihoods.
But sustainably increasing maize production will require a portfolio of complementary technologies and policies. Reducing dependence on foreign grain imports is part of the strategy, but those economic transitions are likely to take years, not months.
Strategies to address this issue need to be holistic, working across the region. So shifting all the focus on maize will only partially work because arid countries along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden coastlines extending to the Horn of Africa produce and consume little maize.
Enter millet… grown where no other cereal crop will yield grain or likely to fail due to heat, drought, and poor soil fertility.
Millet is a staple food for millions of people in drought-prone Africa; but production is still at subsistence level by smallholders.
Millet is a warm season annual grain crop grown for food in the hottest and driest tropical regions of Africa. It is the most drought tolerant of all domesticated grain and a staple food crop for millions of people across Africa. It provides farmers with the best available opportunity for reliable harvest, food and nutrition in environments with erratic and scanty rainfall, and low soil fertility levels. It has also a high potential to be a commercial grain crop in drought prone areas due to its water and nutrient-use efficiency.
As the world becomes drier and hotter, millet should gain importance as a staple food crop, especially in Africa where desertification is increasing and threatening food security. What is important in Africa is enhancing trading of millet within African countries and subregions, moving grains from surplus to deficit areas, and diversifying end-use products.
