Zambia: Producing Millet As Cash Crop

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Millet production levels have declined in many countries, including Zambia, despite the potential to improve food and nutrition security and generate income.
Millet has been a traditional diet of tropical communities for centuries and he is one of the first cultivated staples in Asia and Africa.
Harvesting has multiple benefits as it is not only good for people’s health but also good for the planet and a good harvest for farmers.
Modern science confirms that millet is highly nutritious and beneficial to health, so there is an urgent need to promote its importance in culture.
The 75th session of the UN General Assembly has adopted India’s proposal to declare 2023 as the International Millet Year. The proposal was supported by members of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) Executive Board.
One of the aims of the International Year of Millet is to raise awareness of the contribution of millet to food and nutrition security.
This will encourage stakeholders to focus on improving the sustainable production and quality of millet and increasing investment in research and development and advisory services.
India is the largest millet producer, followed by Niger and China.
India controls 30% of the world’s millet acreage and her 40% of production. The country produces an average of 1,239 tonnes of sorghum per hectare with a yield from 2016 to 2021.
In Zambia, where sorghum is widely grown as a traditional crop, he produced 39,095 tons of sorghum in the 2021-2022 cropping season.
The crop is his second most important staple food in the country after corn.
Ashok Kumar, India’s Commissioner for Zambia, said he was pleased to know that millet is widely cultivated as a traditional crop in Zambia as 2023 is celebrated as the International Year of Millet. I was.
Kumar said India expects renewed cooperation on millet production with Zambia, which ranks millet as his second most important staple crop in the country. He says millet is the safest crop for small farmers because it is resilient and adapts to drought conditions.
“Millet makes efficient use of available nutrients and responds well to improved working conditions and additional application of inputs, leading to increased yields,” he says.
Kumar says millet will play an important role in tackling food insecurity and nutrition.
In the words of President Hakainde Hichilema at the Feed Africa Summit in Dakar, food security is a enabling platform for development, important for socio-economic development and social security, and is critical for increasing food insecurity. is very important in this scenario.
Agriculture Minister Mtolo Phiri said millet’s ability to thrive in harsh environments is fast becoming the crop of choice in climate-affected countries, as he hosts the Millet Food Festival.
Fili said his 2023 International Year of Millet offers a unique opportunity to boost Zambia’s production levels, ensure efficient processing and consumption, and promote better use of crop rotation.
He also says the International Millet Year will promote better connectivity across the food system to promote millet as an important component of the food basket.
Fili said the level of millet production in the country is declining despite the potential to improve nutrition and national security. He said according to the 2022 Crop Forecast Surveyand the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats), millet production in Samia fell by 33% from 58,859 tons in 2020/21 to 39,095 tons in the 2021/22 growing season. I’m here.
Fili attributed the drop in millet production to the government’s decision to remove the crop from the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP).
According to his Zamstats in 2009, between 1990 and 2008, Zambia produced an average of 75,000 tonnes of sorghum annually, compared with about 102,000 tonnes of maize.
However, as interest from the local private sector increases, it is expected that the level of crop production will improve.
Fili said the commercial sector has recently seen increaseddemand for millet, especially sorghum, which is used as malt in brewing clear and opaque beers. Fili said the decline in sorghum production has created an urgent need to promote the importance of culture, especially the nutritional and environmental benefits of sorghum for consumers, producers and decision makers.
He said this is aimed at improving production efficiency, investment in research and development and connectivity in the food sector.
“For many years, millet has been widely recognized as a supplementary crop in Zambia’s food system. Domestic consumption of millet in the country was relatively small and until recently was limited to rural households. , ranks as the second most important staple food after corn.
To mark the International Millet Year, Mr Fili said the Zambian government, in cooperation with the Indian government,
FAO organized a number of activities throughout the year to raise awareness of millet’s contribution to food and nutrition security. He said the government is ready to work with India, the FAO and other like minds to advance the millet agenda and commercialize it.
Fili also urged domestic millers to take advantage of the promotion of millet as an important crop to ensure food security by launching millet flour.
FAO Director-General Suze Percy Philippi says feeding a world population of nearly 10 billion by 2050 will require fundamental changes in how food is produced, processed, traded and consumed. .
Ms Filippi said that feeding this expanded population will require significant improvements in global, regional and regional food systems.
This aims to provide decent jobs and livelihoods to producers and all actors along the food chain and to provide consumers with nutritious products for better production, nutrition, the environment and livelihoods. It’s purpose. She says sorghum offers promising livelihood opportunities for small farmers.
She says that after the sudden shock that hit the food grain market, millet could become a valuable alternative to commonly traded grains.
Filippi said this increased diversity could make global grain markets more resilient and less dependent on other grains.
She adds that if used innovatively, millet can offer significant market opportunities for both regional and international trade, including a range of innovative uses in areas such as therapeutics and medicine.
“The millet trade has the potential to improve the diversity of the global food system. Currently, millet accounts for less than 3% of the global grain trade,” she says.
Ms Filippi says FAO will continue working closely with the Zambian government and key factors such as the private sector, civil society
organisations, regional economic community organisations among others in social, economic and environment across global, regional and local
food systems.
She says this is because FAO believes that only by mainstreaming food system development and turning holistic diagnostic approaches into
actions, policies and investments would the challenges facing food systems be addressed.
On the same issue, United Nations resident coordinator, Beatrice Mutali says it is good that the Indian government working with the
Zambian government and FAO is already embarking on activities promoting the production of millets such as the inaugural event.
Ms Mutali says the UN hopes that the inaugural event will culminate into joint efforts that will lead to unprecedented growth in the production of millet which is one of the most important crops in Zambia.
She says over the past two decades, Zambia with support of cooperating partners has put in place several measures in various sectors of the economy to address poverty, hunger, and malnutrition and income inequality. However, progress in tackling these challenges has been slow.
Muthari said crops need to be diversified by promoting those that are suitable for growing in the harshest environments, with the potential for severe food insecurity and hunger rising.
Promoting sorghum as a staple crop and ensuring food security through increased production is critical in tackling poverty, malnutrition and income inequality.
Given the political will of the Zambian government to increase millet production, the country is poised to transform its local agri-food system to be more efficient, resilient and inclusive.
By expanding millet production, the government will play a key role in restoring millet market share and creating further opportunities for smallholder farmers while cereal consumption is commercialized.