Millet, Mijo, Просо, Panicum, Panicoideae, Proso millet

Millets are a group of  annual grass species, 4 or 500 in total that live all over the world. About 10+ of them are used in agriculture since at least 8000 BC, most common is Pearl millet , others are Finger millet, Proso millet, Foxtail millet,  and exotics like  Kodo millet, Little millet, Guinea millet, Japanese barnyard millet, Indian barnyard millet. They grow very well on poorly fertilized, dry soils, and can tolerate pretty much anything except soil acidity.
Millet was a staple in Asia  well before  rice took over..Now its a sixth major grain and daily food for hundreds of millions of people. There are some serious studies suggesting that millet helps to prevent  type 2 diabetes and breast cancer. Personally, I did have my fair share of Proso Millet in my childhood  so I can tell you with all honesty that if I had to choose between  consuming it daily for the rest of my life and breast cancer,  the latter would be my choice of preference, even though I am a man.
In 2009,  32 034 572 tons of millet  were produced, leaving an average  potential consumer with a bit over  4.7 kg of millet (  10.43 pounds)  for the year of 2009. That's enough to last for 8.8 days. Worldwide, millet crop could feed 165.9 million people at 2000 calorie a day diet. There is enough protein in the world's millet crop  for over 193 million people. ( at 50 g a day).
Biggest crop ever was in 2008, 35 216 620 tons. Worst, since 1961--23.3 million tonnes in 1965.

Best worldwide yields were in 2008,     951.5 kg per hectare. Worst, since 1961--535.8 kg /ha in 1965.  Record yield belongs to Jordan, 8800 kg per hectare (1995) , area harvested was about  5 hectares-- an experimental field.
Worldwide , 35 454 429 hectares were used for Millet production,  that is over 2.25% of all  arable land in the world. Land usage decreased by about 20% in the last 50 years.
Biggest Millet producer  is  India with 8.59 million tons of millets produced, but there is a possibility that Nigeria  produced more than that in 2009. Biggest millet producer per capita is Mali with  95.8 kg produced in 2009. Africans in general eat about 20 kg of millet each, which is 4 times more than  the average consumption of  millet in Asia,  second  millet consuming region in the world.

Millet costs about $200-220 per ton, value of the world crop of millet  is about  $7 billion . Only 200-300 000 tonnes of millet , or around 1% of the production, are available for international trade, however this number does not include  trade within African continent.


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Production of millet   by country     

	item	2007		2008		2009
Afghanistan	Millet	12000		22000
Angola	Millet	79345		12757		40348
Argentina	Millet	14484		14824		5880
Australia	Millet	36000	*	37000	*
Austria	Millet	8800	F	9000	F	8500	F
Azerbaijan	Millet	103		48		8
Bahamas	Millet		M		M		M
Bangladesh	Millet	13795		6514			M
Benin	Millet	35303		33984			M
Bhutan	Millet	8779		8779	F		M
Botswana	Millet	125	F	125	F		M
Bulgaria	Millet	2508		4822		4262
Burkina Faso	Millet	966016		1255189			M
Burundi	Millet	11500	F	11500	F		M
Cameroon	Millet	60000	F	60000	F	60000	F
Central African Republic	Millet	10000	*	10000	*	10000	*
Chad	Millet	495486		523162			M
China	Millet	1508000		1551000	F	1501000	F
Congo	Millet	8500	F	9500	F		M
Côte d'Ivoire	Millet	57000		49000			M
Croatia	Millet	410	*	260	*	380	*
Czech Republic	Millet	1800	F	1800	F		M
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	Millet	61000	*	61000	F		M
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Millet	37530		37810			M
Eritrea	Millet	63254		63254	F		M
Ethiopia	Millet	397002		484409		560305	*
France	Millet	38000	F	38000	F	40000	F
Gambia	Millet	89186		125624		144868
Ghana	Millet	113040		193840		245550
Greece	Millet	0	F	0	F		M
Guinea	Millet	323000	F	323000	F		M
Guinea-Bissau	Millet	26169		31388			M
Hungary	Millet	7644		9925		6863
India	Millet	12673000		11340000		8590000
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Millet	9000	F	9000	F		M
Iraq	Millet	6471		4470		1954
Japan	Millet	305	F	305	F		M
Jordan	Millet	7		7	F		M
Kazakhstan	Millet	31000		27380		31000
Kenya	Millet	119599		38462		54000
Kyrgyzstan	Millet	180		121		174
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	Millet	6400	F	6400	F		M
Malawi	Millet	32251		31869			M
Maldives	Millet	210	F	210	F		M
Mali	Millet	1175107		1413908		1390410
Mauritania	Millet	1601		2318		4974	*
Mexico	Millet	1800		1800	F		M
Morocco	Millet	7000	F	7000	F		M
Mozambique	Millet	25213		23967			M
Myanmar	Millet	166000	*	166000	F		M
Namibia	Millet	60000	F	60000	F		M
Nepal	Millet	284813		291098		292683
Niger	Millet	2781928		3489400			M
Nigeria	Millet	8090000		9064000			M
Pakistan	Millet	305000		296400		293000
Poland	Millet	11692		9490		12142
Portugal	Millet		M		M		M
Republic of Korea	Millet	1356		1249			M
Republic of Moldova	Millet	50		512		400	*
Romania	Millet	2327		2853		2206
Russian Federation	Millet	417371		711010		264700
Rwanda	Millet	4000	F	4000	F		M
Saudi Arabia	Millet	6073		6073	F		M
Senegal	Millet	318822		678171		810121
Serbia	Millet	200	F	200	F	200	F
Sierra Leone	Millet	25000	F	25000	F		M
Slovakia	Millet	1324		1927		1928
Slovenia	Millet	543		315		159
South Africa	Millet	12000	F	12000	F		M
Spain	Millet	517		517	F		M
Sri Lanka	Millet	5500		6540		6450
Sudan	Millet	796000		721000		630000
Syrian Arab Republic	Millet	4100		1500			M
Tajikistan	Millet	14		37		40	F
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Millet		M	30	*	30	F
Togo	Millet	45456		46440	*		M
Turkey	Millet	7094		6995		7171
Uganda	Millet	732000		783000		841000
Ukraine	Millet	84300		220700		139300
United Republic of Tanzania	Millet	219000	F	219000	F		M
United States of America	Millet	380047		334621		223730
Uzbekistan	Millet	6200	*	7000	*	9000	*
Viet Nam	Millet	1600	F	1600	F		M
Yemen	Millet	88035		74048		61527
Zambia	Millet	21707		39163		48967	*
Zimbabwe	Millet	43800		37000			M
World + (Total)	Millet	33498792	A	35215620	A	32034572	A

My main sources are fao.org, alibaba.com, usda.gov, cia.gov. Thank you for your visit!