The millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as ceral crops or grains for both human food and animal fodder. Millets are important crops in of Asia and Africa. The crop is favored for its short growing season under dry, hot conditions.

Pearl millet is the most widely grown millet in India and parts of Africa. Finger millet, proso millet and fox tail millets are also important crop species. Though millet is an important crop in the developing countries, it is less important in developed countries. In the United States proso millet is grown as a bird seed.

Millets most likely had an evolutionary origin in tropical western Africa, since it is there that the greatest number of wild and cultivated forms exist. Millets have been important food staples in human history, particularly in Asia and Africa, and they have been in cultivation in for the last 10,000 years.

The most widely cultivated species in order of worldwide production are Pearl millet known as bajra in India, Foxtail millet, prosomillet (common millet, broom corn millet, hog millet or white millet) and finger millet known as ragi, nachani or mandwa in India.

Millets are major food sources in arid and semiarid regions of the world, and feature in the traditional cuisine of many others. In western India, hand rolled flat bread is made with millet.

Ragi is another cereal grain popularly used in the rural areas and eaten by the poor people in the form of roti. ragi mudde is a popular meal in southern India. Millet porridge is a traditional food in Rusian, German and Chinese cusines.

In Russia, it is eaten as a sweet – with milk and sugar added at the end of the cooking process or as a savory with meat or vegetable stews. In China, it is eaten without milk or sugar, frequently with beans, sweet potato, and/or various types of squash. In Germany, it is also eaten sweet, boiled in water with apples added during the boiling process and honey added during the cooling process.

Per capita consumption of millets, as food, varies in different parts of the world. It is highest in western Africa. Millet is also an important food item for the population living in the drier parts of many other countries, especially in eastern and central Africa, and in the northern coastal countries of western Africa. In developing countries outside Africa, millet has local significance as a food in parts of some countries, such as India, China, Myanmar and North Korea.

The use of millets as food has been falling on per capita basis, between the 1970s and the 2000s, both in urban and rural areas, as developing countries such as India have experienced rapid economic growth and witnessed a significant increase in per capita consumption of other cereals.

People with coeliac disease can replace certain gluten-containing cereals in their diets with millet. Millet are also used as bird and animal feed.

Millets are predominantly starchy. Their protein content is comparable to that of wheat and maize. Pearl and little millet are higher in fat, while finger millet contains the lowest fat. Barnyard millet has the lowest carbohydrate content and energy value.

Millets are also relatively rich in iron and phosphorus. The bran layers of millets are good sources of B-complex vitamins. However millets also feature high fiber content and poor digestibility of nutrients, which severely limit their value in nutrition.

Finger millet has the highest calcium content among all the food grains, but it is not easy to assimilate it. The protein content in millet is very close to that of wheat since both provide about 11% protein by their dry weight.

Millets are rich in B vitamins niacin, B6, Folic acid, Calcium, iron, pottassium, magnesium and Zinc. Millets are not suitable for making raised bread. They can be used for raised bread by combining with wheat or xanthan gum. But millets are suited for making flat breads.

As none of the millets are closely related to wheat, they are appropriate foods for those with coeliac disease or other forms of allergies and intolerance to wheat. However, millets should not be consumed in great quantities by those with thyroid problems.