Biofortification for Nutrient-Rich Millets

Abstract

There are billions of persons facing the problem of micronutrient deficiency in the world, resulting to undernourishment. This results into severe consequences of health. It is one of the most significant health problems of the humankind. These deficiencies will perpetuate the cycle of poverty especially in rural areas of developing countries. The commercial food fortification alone will not be sufficient to combat the problem of malnutrition; however, biofortification can enhance the nutritional value of the plant-derived foods and feeds and provide a low-cost, sustainable, and long-term means of delivering micronutrients to the poor. The resource-poor people mainly consume a small number of staple crops especially cereals for the vast majority of their nutrition. Millets are important crops in the semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa, with more than 90 % of millet production in developing countries. The crops are favored due to its productivity and short growing season under dry and high temperature conditions. However, millets are highly nutritious and even superior to wheat and rice in certain constituents, so they are now considered as nutria-cereals (nutritious grains). The ingestion of micronutrients in low-income rural families of millet-growing areas is less as compared to recommended diet intake. Any increase in quality of millets might have significant role in combating micronutrient malnutrition for human health over the world. Biofortified millets have a great potential to reduce micronutrient deficiency in the developing countries. The work done on biofortification of millets is still not much. Even after nutrient richness of millets, there is a need to work for more production with quality addition in millets to change the billions of people from nutrient insufficiency to nutrient adequacy.