Millets for Sustainable Life – a Review on Their Cultivation, Nutritional Properties and Value Added Products in India

SRINIVASAN GOPALAKRISHNAN; ABIRAMI ARUMUGAM

Millets for Sustainable Life – a Review on Their Cultivation, Nutritional Properties and Value Added Products in India

Author(s)	Dr. SRINIVASAN GOPALAKRISHNAN, Dr. ABIRAMI ARUMUGAM
Country	India
Abstract	According to an FAO report, millets are vital for sustainable agriculture. Production of millets in India was approximately 10 million tonnes in 2019, which is nearly 40% of the global share. Millets are classified as functional food due to their nutritional composition and the nutraceutical properties. The traditional knowledge about the functional and nutraceutical benefits of millets-based food items have been handed down through generations. Millet consumption has been reported in Indus-Sarasvati Civilization that dates back 3000 years ago. Some of the traditional millets that are cultivated and consumed include brown top millet (Urochloa ramosa), little millet (Panicum sumarense), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum), foxtail millet (Setaria italic), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), jowar (Sorghum bicolor), finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and barnyard millet (Echinochloa esculenta). A lot of research has been carried out and the presence of micronutrients, phytochemicals and trace elements has been reported. Due to urban migration,rise in population and the subsequent need of catering to the growing population, the emergence of cereals such as rice and wheat led to the decline of the importance of millets. Now, again due to the persistent efforts to re-introduce millets as mainstream crop has gained positive results in the form of declaration of 2023 as ‘International Year of Millets’ and even the urban population in India preferring food items from millets. This is due to slow dispersal of knowledge about the nutritional composition of millets. Apart from this fact, millets can withstand extreme climatic conditions and can grow in harsh soil and are water-resilient crops. Around 154 varieties of millets have been released in India. Efforts have been made to encourage cultivation, production and distribution of millets with several incentives to farmers, investors, startup agencies, entrepreneurs, state agencies, stakeholders and exporters.
Keywords	millets, nutritional value, nutraceutical and functional properties, ancient millets, importance of millets cultivation
Field	Biology > Agriculture / Botany
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 1, January-February 2026
Published On	2026-02-15

View / Download PDF File

E-ISSN 2582-2160

doi

CrossRef DOI is assigned to each research paper published in our journal.

IJFMR DOI prefix is
10.36948/ijfmr

Downloads

Research Paper Format Copyright Permission Form and Undertaking Form Cover Page Vol 8 Isu 2 Cover Page Vol 8 Isu 1 Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 6

All research papers published on this website are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and all rights belong to their respective authors/researchers.

CC-BY-SA

About IJFMR Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics Peer Review & Plagiarism	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Reviewer Referral Program Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9687-828-838	editor@ijfmr.com

International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Millets for Sustainable Life – a Review on Their Cultivation, Nutritional Properties and Value Added Products in India

Share this