Did you know?
Millets have many local names. Finger millet is called ragi in Karnataka. In Hindi, pearl millet is called bajra and sorghum is called jowar.
The Indian Institute of Millets Research is in Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. Its scientists study sorghum and other millets and breed better varieties for farmers.
ICRISAT, an international crop research institute set up in 1972, has its headquarters at Patancheru near Hyderabad. It studies crops for dry lands, including pearl millet, sorghum and finger millet.
Try this: Millet mosaic
Draw a simple picture, like a sun, a fish or a flower, on thick paper. Spread glue on one part at a time and press on different grains: ragi (reddish-brown), jowar (creamy white) and bajra (greyish). Use only a small handful, or old grains, so that good food isn't wasted. Can you name every grain in your mosaic?
Go further: Millets around the world
Millets and their grain cousins are eaten across the world. In Ethiopia, injera, a soft and spongy flatbread, is traditionally made from the flour of teff, a tiny grain often grouped with millets. In India, think of ragi mudde in Karnataka, bajra roti in Rajasthan and jowar bhakri in Maharashtra. Ask an elder in your family which millet dishes they ate as children, and try one together!