Research alliance to unlock African millet’s potential
Finger millet and pearl millet have a lot to offer Africa, but they urgently need research and development. Besides being gluten-free, they are also high-potential, niche-opportunity crops due to their climate resilience, rich nutritional compositions, various health benefits, and extended grain storage quality.
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) however, millets lack formal R&D support and funding for improvement, product development and marketing. “There is a lack of modern varieties, crop management practices and market access for millets,” says ACCI Director Professor Hussein Shimelis.
Because of this, there is a need for coordinated R&D for genetic enhancement as well as pipeline pre-breeding and breeding programmes. “This will enable the deployment of high-performing, market-preferred varieties through integrated crop improvement programmes to realise the full potential of African millets,” he says.
Considering the above, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), through its Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs), mobilised selected millet research institutions in Africa and internationally to collaborate on millet research projects of common interest. The CRPS in Africa foresees millet as a critical crop for building the future of African agriculture. The roles of the CRP are highlighted in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Plant Breeding and Genetics Newsletter No. 53, July 23, 2024, ISSN 1564-2569
The demand for millets, as well as their scale and scope as commodity crops, require a coordinated research programme for new partnerships. This will expand opportunities and transform public and private millet breeding and seed sectors.
“Coordinated millet R&D in Africa will advance the breeding and dissemination of new varieties that respond to farmer needs and market demand,” says Shimelis . “This will be based on demand-led principles with emphasis on pearl millet and finger millet, crops that are under-utilised but have potential benefits, such as climate resilience, nutrition, trade or value-added products.”
The CRP of millet in Africa will support the goals of the NARS, universities, and private sectors across all value chain members, in advancing millet production. This will involve large numbers of small-scale producers in several countries.
The CRP on African millets involves South Africa (African Centre for Crop Improvement in the University of KwaZulu-Natal), Namibia (Directorate of Agricultural Research and Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform), Burkina Faso (Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research [INERA]), and Ethiopia (Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research [EIAR]). The CRP will involve flagship projects that will significantly contribute to transforming the millet industry in Africa and internationally.
In the above newspaper, the African collaborators produced a feature article entitled ‘Millets in Africa: Importance, Challenges, and Potential for Innovation’ by Adane Gebreyohannes, Maliata Athon Wanga, Elisabeth Zida, Fatma Sarsu and Hussein Shimelis. (https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Newsletters/pbg-53.pdf )
As part of this initiative, UKZN’s ACCI has an active research project entitled “Pre-Breeding of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) for Diverse Product Profiles and Climate Change Adaptation Using Nuclear Science and Associated Technologies”. The project is funded by the IAEA for five years through the Coordinated Research Project (CRP): “Accelerated Genetic Improvement of Key Dryland Millets for Climate Change Adaptation (D24016).”
“The overall objective of this project is to develop new generation pearl millet genotypes with diverse product profiles, adapted to various climatic conditions using nuclear science and associated technologies,” says Shimelis. Activities will include screening diverse pearl millet genotypes for yield, resistance to downy mildew and blast, economic phenotypic traits, nutrient and genetic profiles using economic phenotypic traits and high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers.
There will also be mutation breeding of selected pearl millet genotypes with gamma irradiation, and genetic advancement and selection of novel mutants, genetic profiling of selected mutants using phenotypic, farmer- and market-preferred traits and SNP markers. The project will develop ideal pearl millet genotypes suitable for South Africa and related agroecologies to serve the food and feed industry.