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Several kinds of millets are grown in the world, but FAO data on area, yield and production of all millets are given together under the general heading of millet. Pearl millet, finger millet and prove millet account for a large proportion of the world production. Millet production increased from 26 million tonnes in 197981 to 31 million tonnes in 1988 and was similar in 1989 and 1990. Asia, Africa and the former Soviet Union produce almost all the world's millets, as shown in Table 7. The major producers of millets in 1990 were India (39 percent), China (15 percent), Nigeria (13 percent) and the Soviet Union (12 percent) (Table 8).
The area under millet production decreased marginally from 38.1 million hectares in 1979-81 to 37.6 million hectares in 1990. However, production increased by 17 percent, from 25.6 million tonnes in 1979-89 to 29.8 million tonnes in 1990, largely because of production increases in Nigeria (65 percent), India (25 percent) and the Soviet Union (207 percent). However, there was a 24 percent decrease in production in China during the same period.
In all of the ten leading millet-producing countries except the Soviet Union, vegetable products supplied 90 percent or more of total dietary energy in 198789 (Table 9). In India, China, Nigeria, the Niger, Mali, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Nepal, vegetable products supplied more than 80 percent of protein. Thus in many sorghum- and millet-producing countries, vegetable products, especially cereals, provide the bulk of energy and protein.
TABLE 7: Area, yield and production of millet, by region, 1990
| Region | Area |
Yield (kg/ha) | Production |
||
| (10³ ha) | (% of total) | (10³ t) | (% of total) | ||
| Asia | 20 853 | 55.5 | 804 | 16 767 | 56.2 |
| Africa | 13 548 | 36.1 | 669 | 9 066 | 30.4 |
| USSR | 2903 | 7.7 | 1 256 | 3647 | 12.2 |
| North and Central America | 150 | 0.4 | 1 200 | 180 | 0.6 |
| South America | 55 | 0.2 | 1 655 | 91 | 0.3 |
| Oceania | 34 | 0.1 | 882 | 30 | 0.1 |
| World | 37565 | 100 | 794 | 29817 | 100 |
Source: FAO,1991.
TABLE 8: Leading millet producers, 1990
| Country | Area |
Production |
||
| (10³ ha) | (% of total) | (10³ t) | (% of total) | |
| India | 17 000 | 45.3 | 11 500 | 38.6 |
| China | 2 601 | 6.9 | 4 401 | 14.8 |
| Nigeria | 4 000 | 10.7 | 4 000 | 13.4 |
| USSR | 2 903 | 7.7 | 3 647 | 12.2 |
| Niger | 3 100 | 8.3 | 1 133 | 3.8 |
| Mali | 900 | 2.4 | 695 | 2.3 |
| Uganda | 400 | 1.1 | 620 | 2.1 |
| Burkina Faso | 1 150 | 3.1 | 597 | 2.0 |
| Senegal | 865 | 2.3 | 514 | 1.7 |
| Nepal | 200 | 0.5 | 240 | 0.8 |
| Total | 33 119 | 88.2 | 27 347 | 91.7 |
| World(1990) | 37 565 | 29 817 | ||
| World (1989) | 37 409 | 29 962 | ||
Source: FAO. 1991.
TABLE 9: Sources of energy and protein in the food supply of the world's ten leading millet producers, 1987-89
| Country | Energy per caput per day (kcal) |
Protein per caput per day (g) |
||||||
| Total | Vegetable products | Percentage of total | Animal products | Total | Vegetable products | Percentage of total | Animal products | |
| India | 2196 | 2 048 | 93.3 | 148 | 53.2 | 45.6 | 85.7 | 7.6 |
| China | 2634 | 2 365 | 89.8 | 269 | 62.8 | 50.7 | 80.7 | 12.1 |
| Nigeria | 2306 | 2 248 | 97.5 | 58 | 49.5 | 43.6 | 88.1 | 5.9 |
| USSR | 3380 | 2 444 | 72.3 | 936 | 106.2 | 50.1 | 47.2 | 56.1 |
| Niger | 2297 | 2 152 | 93.7 | 145 | 64.0 | 53.2 | 83.1 | 10.8 |
| Mali | 2234 | 2 090 | 93.6 | 144 | 62.5 | 50.1 | 80.2 | 12.4 |
| Uganda | 2136 | 2 010 | 94.1 | 126 | 48.1 | 38.7 | 80.5 | 9.4 |
| Burkina Faso | 2286 | 2 186 | 95.6 | 100 | 69.8 | 62.6 | 89.7 | 7.2 |
| Senegal | 2374 | 2 160 | 91.0 | 214 | 68.2 | 49.9 | 73.0 | 18.3 |
| Nepal | 2074 | 1 937 | 93.4 | 137 | 52.5 | 44.8 | 85.3 | 7.7 |
Source: FAO,1991.