The article is an abridged presentation of the findings of the study on the potential of nutraceutical products for export diversification, structural transformation and sustainable development of landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) financed in 2019-2022 by the CFC¹ and implemented by UNCTAD. The findings of the study have been reported in the UN LDC V conference in Doha, Qatar, on 5 March 2023. 

Introduction: The challenge of export diversification

There are several significant reasons why new markets for export diversification of landlocked and least developed countries remain an essential part of overcoming their commodity dependence and related vulnerabilities. Some of the best-known reasons to seek export diversification include the following:

1  Overdependence on a single market: Many landlocked and least developed countries rely heavily on a single market for their exports. If that market experiences a downturn or shifts its focus, these countries will suffer significant economic losses. Export diversification can help reduce this vulnerability and spread risk across multiple markets. According to the World Bank², export diversification can lead to higher growth. Developing countries should diversify their exports since this can help them overcome export instability or the negative impact of terms of trade in primary products.

2  Increased competition: By diversifying their export markets, landlocked and least developed countries can increase competition and reduce the market power of dominant players. This can lead to better prices and terms of trade for these countries. Taking one example, Chile is the world’s biggest copper producer and its shipments of the metal meet around one-third of global demand and represent about half its goods exports. Yet Chile is also success story of a diversified economy, exporting more than 2,800 distinct products to more than 120 different countries.³

3  Access to new technologies and knowledge: Exporting to new markets can provide opportunities for landlocked and least developed countries to learn about new technologies and business practices, as well as to gain access to new sources of capital and investment. For example, technology and global integration can help countries move resources from low productivity to higher productivity and skill-intensive sectors, thereby setting development and economic catch-up into motion.⁴ It may be recalled here that one of the factors for this lack of structural transformation is LDCs’ overwhelming dependence on commodities for production and exports. According to the UNCTAD Commodities and Development Report 2021⁵, over 75% of African LDCs depend on commodity production for over half of their export earnings. 

When it comes to technological advancement and its effective use, the LDCs are at the lower end of the ladder. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Global Innovation Index 2021, which monitors the state of technological advancement in 132 countries, 21 out of the 32 countries in the bottom quartile are LDCs. Initiatives gaining significance in this regard include those aimed at fostering meaningful connectivity and digital transformation in hardest-to-hit countries, including Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

4  Increased foreign exchange earnings: Export diversification can increase the amount of foreign exchange earnings for landlocked and least developed countries, which can in turn help reduce trade deficits and stabilize the economy. Commodity dependent developing countries must engage actively in global trade to take advantage of their natural endowment. At the same time, according to UNDP, economic openness explains the fact that an economy may be vulnerable to external economic shocks (as reflected by losses in export revenues and growth slowdowns), and the scale of impact depends largely on the degree of concentration of a country’s export portfolio.⁶ Thus diversification to new export markets is generally an essential measure to secure sustainability and resilience in commodity dependent developing countries. By spreading risk across multiple markets, these countries can better weather economic downturns and maintain stability.

5  Job creation: Diversification of exports can lead to the creation of new jobs in industries that may not have existed before in these countries. This can help reduce unemployment rates and provide new opportunities for economic growth. There is a general consensus that trade has high potential to foster inclusive growth and create employment. Classical trade theorists recommended active trade participation for both developed and developing countries based on comparative advantage.⁷ More recent theoretical and empirical studies have emphasized the importance of export diversification, rather than export specialisation or concentration. Key reasons for this paradigm shift include the likelihood that export diversification favourably influences the pattern of growth and structural transformation that countries and regions experience, coupled with the fact that diversification increases a country’s ability to meet objectives such as job creation and improvements in income distribution.⁸ Many developing countries have adopted export-oriented development strategies. Such development strategies have often been implemented through the establishment of labour-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing sectors over the last three decades.⁹

By opening up new markets, vulnerable countries can reduce their dependence on a single market and increase their resilience, competitiveness, and economic growth potential. Why is there a particular focus on landlocked least developed and lower-middle-income countries? This emphasis arises from their comparatively low levels of economic development and frail infrastructure. As a result, transaction expenses, particularly those associated with transportation and insurance, tend to be higher, thereby obstructing trade flows and diminishing export competitiveness.

The UNCTAD-CFC study underscores the important point of the need for identifying products that will enable LLDCs to diversify their exports and foster the process of structural transformation. Unfortunately, the only form of structural change that has taken place in LLDCs has been a shift from low-productivity agriculture to low-productivity and non-tradable services. Furthermore, despite the growing importance of services, their impact on exports has been minimal. For LLDCs, services exports account for only 11.5% of total exports.

According to UNCTAD, structural transformation does matter for sustainable development.¹⁰ Historically, successful economic growth has been associated with structural transformation, which is the creation of new areas of activities by shifting resources from traditional to modern sectors and from low-technology and low-productivity to high-technology and higher-productivity areas of production. In this context, structural change takes place not only across sectors – say from agriculture to manufacturing or services – but also by moving from low- to high-productivity activities and the production of new and preferably more advanced, sophisticated and competitive products within sectors.

For landlocked countries, it is especially important to produce goods that are easier to transport and get to markets to attain competitiveness, especially in international markets. One way to do this is to explore the potential for developing niche or unique products for export specialisation and shifting resources to the production and exporting of high-value and low-volume products. Some landlocked African countries have done this by encouraging investment in high-value products that are airlifted to high-income markets in Europe.

It is important to note that value-addition, productivity growth, and linkages could take place not only in manufacturing. Development is not an ‘either or’ option. Transformation and diversification can and does take place in agriculture and services, which are the two areas where landlocked countries need to give priority attention in the coming decades. By recognising one’s comparative advantages, biodiversity, and natural resource endowments in their totality, landlocked countries can identify specific products that they can develop and promote as export items.

The global economy is inextricably tied to the health and productivity of terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems, and each country has the responsibility not only to protect its biodiversity but also to utilise its rich resources sensibly to maximise income and benefit its citizens in a sustainable manner. Nutraceuticals can be developed and exported competitively as specialised products that landlocked developing countries can produce.

Unutilised natural resources in developing countries are often closely linked to their unique natural endowment such as forests, wetlands, and wildlife facing threats from industrial human activities leading to deforestation, mining, and poaching. These activities not only cause environmental damage but also undermine the economic potential of these resources. However, if the economic value of these resources can be recognised and harnessed in a sustainable manner, it can create incentives for their conservation and protection, which can ultimately contribute to preserving biodiversity.

Another way to add economic value to natural resources is through sustainable resource extraction practices. For instance, harvesting non-timber forest products such as fruits, nuts, and medicinal plants in a sustainable manner can provide livelihoods for local communities while protecting the forest ecosystem. The development of economic value of nutraceuticals can contribute to protecting biodiversity in developing countries by creating economic incentives for their conservation and sustainable use. This can provide a win-win solution for both economic development and environmental protection.

UNCTAD report, resulting from CFC-UNCTAD project¹¹, reviews nutraceutical products from certain landlocked developing countries and the constraints that they face in external markets.

The main objectives of the study

The primary aim of the study was to explore the opportunities for boosting nutraceutical exports from LLDCs and to identify potential market access barriers faced in key markets. As outlined below, the concept of nutraceuticals is somewhat vague.¹² To address these concerns, the following section provides a definition and an overview of nutraceuticals, as well as their distinct characteristics as potential export products for LLDCs and other vulnerable commodity dependent developing countries.

This report resulting from the study focuses on several key topics:

• It offers examples of nutraceutical products that can be exported from LLDCs, but the examples aren’t exhaustive. Each country will need to conduct more research to identify all possible nutraceuticals available within its borders.

• The report mainly focuses on LLDCs, but many points also apply to LDCs, especially when it comes to market access. Some of the case studies involve landlocked LDCs such as Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Bhutan, and Nepal. However, non-landlocked LDCs can also benefit from exporting nutraceutical products, including those derived from marine biodiversity.

• The case studies in the report cover landlocked countries from various developing regions, including one from Eastern Europe. Specifically, it looks at Ethiopia and Burkina Faso in Africa, Bhutan and Nepal in Asia, Bolivia in Latin America, and Azerbaijan in Eastern Europe. Each case study briefly discusses the country’s export structure, challenges for export diversification, and implications for nutraceutical exports.

• The report emphasizes production and market access constraints for nutraceutical exports from LLDCs, particularly regarding standards and quality control. It covers both supply and demand aspects, as well as the difference between market access and market entry. It highlights that meeting demand and securing market access doesn’t guarantee market entry, as major markets have strict standards that must be met.

• The in-depth analysis of standards and market constraints is useful for potential exporters and policymakers seeking to develop the necessary infrastructure, research, testing, and regulations to meet international standards.

• The report looks at market access barriers in areas with growing or potential demand for nutraceuticals, including the European Union (EU), the United States, Japan, China, Korea, and India. While these countries don’t represent the global market, they are major markets for nutraceuticals and account for a large portion of the world’s population.

• Many LLDCs and other vulnerable countries haven’t yet tapped into the potential of their natural resources for economic development. This report aims to encourage further research and exploration in this area.

Nutraceuticals: definition and special features

Nutraceuticals are products derived from food sources that offer additional health benefits beyond basic nutrition. They are designed to improve overall health, prevent disease, or support the proper functioning of the body. Nutraceuticals can be found in various forms, such as functional foods, beverages, and supplements.

To better understand what products could be regarded as nutraceuticals, let’s look at some examples that a reader might encounter in their daily life:

1 Functional Foods: These are everyday foods that contain ingredients with proven health benefits. Some common examples include:

• Probiotic yogurt: Yogurt with added live bacteria (probiotics) that can improve gut health and digestion.

• Fortified cereals: Breakfast cereals enriched with vitamins and minerals like iron, vitamin D, or calcium to help meet daily nutritional needs.

• Omega-3 enriched eggs: Eggs produced by hens fed with a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids, resulting in eggs with higher levels of these healthy fats, which can help improve heart health.

2 Health Beverages: Drinks that contain ingredients known for their health benefits. Examples include:

• Green tea: Rich in antioxidants called catechins, which can help protect cells from damage and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

• Functional water: Water that has been enhanced with vitamins, minerals, or herbs to provide additional health benefits.

3 Food Supplements: These are concentrated sources of nutrients or other substances with a demonstrated health effect, usually taken in the form of capsules, tablets, or liquids. Examples include:

• Fish oil supplements: Containing omega-3 fatty acids, which can help reduce inflammation and improve heart health.

• Multivitamins: Containing a combination of vitamins and minerals to help ensure adequate nutrient intake.

• Herbal supplements: Derived from plants with potential health benefits, such as echinacea for immune support or ginseng for energy.

4 Natural whole foods: Certain fruits, vegetables, and grains are also considered nutraceuticals due to their inherent health benefits. Examples include:

• Blueberries: Rich in antioxidants and known for their potential benefits in improving memory and cognitive function.

• Spinach: High in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which can help maintain a healthy immune system and reduce inflammation.

• Whole grains: Such as oats and quinoa, known for their high fibre content and potential benefits in managing blood sugar levels and promoting heart health.

These products can reach their customer in grocery stores, pharmacies, or health food shops, under the general marketing promise that incorporating them into daily diet can help improve overall health and well-being. It is neither ordinary food that people consume everyday nor officially recognised medicine. It falls in the middle and includes a wide range of plants and fruits that are traditionally and through modern research considered to have health-related benefits on humans. Essentially, therefore, any food product or derivative sold in a ‘health food’ store or found on the aisles of the ‘health food’ section of a supermarket, is claiming the status of nutraceutical.

Furthermore, despite the somewhat vague definition and often scientifically unproven benefits of health food and supplements, consumer demand is rising strongly in developed and developing countries such as China and India. This is exemplified by the rising demand for organic produce and products, despite higher prices than conventionally grown fruits, vegetables, grains, oils etc. For example, in 2016, purchases of organic foods in the United States rose 8.4% compared to 0.6% for all food products. Other examples include essential oils, for which demand is booming even despite controversies about their health benefits.

The nutraceutical market, which includes functional foods and dietary supplements, was worth around USD 382.5 billion in 2019. People all over the world, especially in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East, are increasingly interested in these products. The market was predicted to hit USD 412.7 billion in 2020. The US, Europe, and Japan make up more than 90% of the market, while India represents about 2%.

The growing demand for nutraceuticals can be attributed to factors such as increased income, heightened consumer awareness about health issues as the population ages, a stronger emphasis on prevention over cure, scepticism towards modern medicine’s invasive procedures and significant side effects, a deeper interest in and understanding of traditional remedies from other cultures, and concerns about environmental and social sustainability (particularly in the case of organic products). Additionally, there is a global trend shifting from meat to plant-based diets, with an increased focus on ethical food sourcing¹³.

All these information flows have created a booming market in health food and supplements and new opportunities for enterprises in developing countries to produce functional plant-based food products for export as nutraceuticals. In many cases, the ingredients in nutraceuticals have long been cultivated or found in the wild in developing countries. If LLDCs can become competitive producers and marketers of nutraceuticals, the effects could be considerable on incomes, employment and poverty reduction. Moreover, increased returns from growing traditional plants can contribute to preserving biodiversity and indigenous cultures.

In order to capitalise on the worldwide demand for nutraceuticals, it is crucial to comply with the stringent regulatory and quality requirements that prevail in developed countries. While it is true that nutraceuticals typically face less regulation than pharmaceuticals, adhering to these standards is still a demanding task for any product, particularly those aimed at discerning consumers who prioritise health effects.

Given the health-related implications of nutraceuticals, governments in developed markets persistently enforce and oversee strict regulations on standards. These rigorous requirements can pose significant obstacles for potential exporters hailing from developing countries. The report delves into these challenges, placing particular emphasis on the discussions surrounding these issues, in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the barriers faced by nutraceutical exporters.

Exploring the potential that the biodiversity ecosystem offers: bioprospecting

Bioprospecting is the exploration of biodiversity for commercially valuable genetic resources and biochemicals. It involves gathering information from the biosphere on the molecular composition of species to develop new commercial products. These products may be pharmaceutical, agricultural, industrial, or chemical processed end-products derived from biological resources.

In the context of identifying new niche export products that could be marketed as nutraceuticals, bioprospecting can play a crucial role. By exploring a country’s diverse ecosystem and untapped reservoir of natural resources, bioprospecting can help discover unique properties of plants, fruits, animals, and microscopic organisms with potential nutraceutical properties. Developing countries can harness bioprospecting to boost economic development by tapping into their native biodiversity. Organizations like UNCTAD’s BioTrade¹⁴ Initiative can provide support to these countries in collecting information and transforming and commercialising goods and services derived from their native biodiversity.

Through bioprospecting, researchers identify novel compounds or genetic resources within a country’s ecosystem, which could be developed into nutraceutical products. These products could then be marketed internationally, providing an opportunity for developing countries to establish a niche export market based on their unique biodiversity. This process not only helps boost the economy but also promotes sustainable use and conservation of natural resources. The results of bioprospecting can lead to natural ways to grow crops, production of food supplements to improve health, and the treatment of chronic diseases. It can also create economic incentives for the conservation of biodiversity, serve as a foundation for modern biotechnology in the developing world, and provide local and indigenous communities with ways to benefit from their unique understanding of the environment in which they live. This is possible both in marine ecosystems and terrestrial ecosystems.

Bioprospecting in developing countries faces a number of challenges that limit their ability to effectively participate in the global biotechnology industry. One of the main challenges is the lack of scientific capacity to carry out the high calibre research required for patentable discoveries and the establishment of biotechnology companies. Many developing countries have a shortage of scientists and researchers with the expertise needed to carry out advanced stages of biological prospecting research. This results in a limited ability to effectively identify, collect, extract, and screen genetic resources.

To address this challenge, developing countries need to expand their facilities for collection, extraction, and screening of genetic resources, and demonstrate their capabilities to potential investors¹⁵. This would require significant investment in infrastructure and research facilities to enable the countries to compete in the global biotechnology industry. Developing countries should establish partnerships with research institutes, academic and domestic and foreign companies to strengthen their human capital, scientific and organisational resources for manufacturing, marketing, and the management of sustained research and development.

Another challenge that developing countries face is the limited bargaining power of producers of nutraceutical products. To strengthen their bargaining position, producers of nutraceutical products need to establish partnerships in sector-wide networks to increase productivity and trade. Such networking could also help to increase productivity and trade and has considerable economic importance. In addition, producers must adopt an array of standards and codes of conduct related to quality, safety, environmental and health concerns to be able to obtain market access.

Finally, developing countries must ensure that their bioprospecting activities are carried out in a sustainable and ethical manner. This requires effective regulation of bioprospecting activities to prevent over-exploitation of genetic resources and ensure that local communities benefit from the commercialisation of genetic resources. It is important for developing countries to strike a balance between the economic benefits of bioprospecting and the need to protect their natural resources and the rights of local communities.

Selected products with potential as nutraceuticals

The report examines the cases of nutraceutical products from landlocked countries, including Bhutan, Nepal, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Bolivia and Azerbaijan. The products covered in the full report include cardamon, red rice, citrus, ginger, sea buckthorn, shea, sesame, cashes, frankincense, teff, quinoa, amaranth, tropical fruits, hazelnuts, pomegranates, persimmons. Below is the summary of finding regarding some of these products.

Cardamon (cardamom)

Cardamon, a spice with numerous health benefits and versatile applications, holds immense potential as a nutraceutical. The study considers the example of Bhutan where an increasing number of citrus farmers transitioned to cardamon cultivation, demonstrating that cardamon is becoming a viable alternative for under-producing citrus orchards. As one of the world’s most valuable spices, alongside saffron and vanilla, cardamon is a well-established cash crop in Bhutan¹⁶.

Although the large, black cardamon variety found in Bhutan is less valuable than its small, green counterpart, it is welladapted to the cold, steep-sloped conditions of the Himalayas. This makes it a particularly suitable crop for the region. Despite facing export challenges due to India’s Goods and Services Tax implementation, this obstacle has shed light on the weaknesses in Bhutan’s production that need to be addressed before targeting developed countries.

Known for its use in masala due to its smoky flavour profile, cardamon is also used to flavour vegetables and is commonly found in mixed spice preparations. Cardamon can also be steeped as tea, though black cardamon is not sweet like its green counterpart¹⁸. 

Black cardamon can also be found in coffee, which comprises a significant portion of global cardamon exports. Cardamon can even be taken as an herbal supplement or used in sweet bakery products¹⁹. Large cardamon is composed of 2–3 per cent oil, from which essential oil can be extracted through steam distillation, maintaining the beneficial properties of the cardamon. It can be inhaled as an aromatic or used in a variety of cosmetics.

Though uncommon on the market, the oil of the cardamon seeds can be used in lip balms, facial cleansers, hand soap, bodywash, and body lotion, as found in Pangea Organics product offerings²⁰. Because cardamon is also known to freshen breath, it can be used in breath mints, gums, mouthwash, and toothpaste. Use in bath salts is another option for uses. There are many opportunities for large cardamon use in nutraceuticals, but producers should be aware of the more pungent odour and smoky quality of large cardamon.

The largest producer of cardamon is Nepal. As of 2017, producers from Nepal supplied 68 per cent of international demand for large cardamon, the main markets being the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe²¹. India’s Sikkim and Darjeeling districts were large producers of black cardamon until the crop was riddled with viral diseases. Old plantations, poor quality planting material, lack of irrigation, and poor canopy management were the largest contributors to India’s decline in production²². However, global warming was the greatest threat to India’s cardamon, as large cardamon grows under cooler, shaded conditions. Bhutan is the only other producer of large, black cardamon, but it has not yet matched the production of Nepal and India. However, as of 2017, Bhutanese cardamon sold for a higher price than Indian cardamon²³. Although there are no public data on world price of large cardamon, prices since 2017 have been on a downward trend due to a drop in overseas demand, e.g. between 2014 and 2017, Bhutanese and Nepalis newspapers have reported that prices dropped 75 per cent.

Sesame

Sesame is an important emerging crop in many LLDCs, such as Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, boasting significant export potential, with exports having increased tenfold since 2000, largely driven by a high global demand. This crop is well-adapted to Burkina Faso’s semi-arid climate and has become the country’s secondlargest cash crop behind cotton. Sesame is low maintenance, requiring little horticultural support, and can thrive even without significant rainfall or fertiliser.

Sesame is known for its notable nutritional and health benefits. It contains the antioxidant gamma-tocopherol, protein, and dietary minerals. Studies have shown that it can slightly reduce blood pressure. Moreover, sesame oil, which is rich in skinbeneficial minerals and proteins that promote hair growth, has become a popular cosmetic product, particularly in Asia, and is gaining increasing popularity in the US. The cosmetic industry currently represents less than 10% of total demand but is the fastest-growing segment in the sesame oil market.

The sesame plant is a bush-like legume mainly grown in Southeast Asia, Central America, and sub-Saharan Africa. It grows as a small bush or upright tree, with pods that burst when ripe to release seeds. The crop varies in quality from high-value white sesame seeds to lower-value brown seeds. Despite its high potential yields, a significant portion of the global sesame output is lost due to ‘shattering’ – the scattering of seeds from unmonitored ripe pods. The sesame seed is commonly used in bread and other wheat-based goods in North America and Europe or processed into oil for flavouring in many Asian dishes. From a health perspective, sesame serves as an antioxidant, lowers cholesterol, and boosts immune response.

The greatest obstacle, at present, to developing downstream oil production is in fact the sheer profitability of crude sesame production. Crude sesame prices have risen to such an extent that selling raw seeds is nearly as profitable per unit as selling medium-quality oil, and consequently entrepreneurs have little price incentive to invest in oil production²⁴. If prices stabilize, oil production may become a viable expansion sector, but under current conditions farmers can do well for themselves by simply selling crude sesame²⁵.

Since 2005, international demand for sesame has consistently exceeded supply, leading to some key impacts on the value chain. Firstly, due to the high profitability of sesame exports, competition among exporters has largely erased the gap between global and farm-gate prices. In 2012, sesame producers in Burkina Faso received 75% of the country’s total sesame export revenue, significantly higher than the 23% that cotton producers received from the total cotton export revenue. Despite Burkina Faso exporting more cotton than sesame by global market value, the farm-gate value of the sesame sector surpassed that of the cotton sector. This implies that sesame cultivation could be a more viable option for farmers looking to expand into cash crops, suggesting that sesame may drive pro-poor growth more effectively than cotton or any other major export crop.

Secondly, the competition among exporters has led to a standard practice of immediate payment to sesame farmers at the farm-gate, and even pre-financing of harvests when prices are favourable. This practice helps farmers avoid poor harvests resulting from insufficient use of fertiliser or quality seeds. However, this puts pressure on exporters, who have to pay for an entire year’s supply during the 2–3-month harvest season, while their export revenues are spread throughout the year. Larger buyers placing advance orders can ease some of this burden, but often, exporters have to resort to commercial banks to bridge this financial gap. As many regional banks are unfamiliar with the sesame sector, exporters often have to use their capital assets as collateral or face high-interest rates, up to 20%. Therefore, providing market-rate loans to exporters, either by Burkina Faso’s government or private entities, could be a cost-efficient way to support the sector.

Introduction - the re-emergence of millet

This article explores the re-emergence of millet in domestic value chains and its use by private actors with innovative business models – using fortification or biofortification – to highlight millet’s smart food properties. While millet has been in the shadow of rice and wheat production for decades, recently there has been renewed interest in millet to enhance food security and livelihoods for small farmers. According to the CGIAR, the development of new millet products ‘needs to make business sense for farmers, seed suppliers, food producers, and consumers.’² While the food security and climate resilience aspects of millets have been the focus of programmes targeting the most vulnerable populations, this article explores the innovators behind changing the narrative around millets: from a ‘poor people’s food’, towards a smart food (Box 1).

Millets have long been a staple food in many regions of Africa and Asia, but their cultivation declined significantly as they came to be associated with poverty and other crops and foods were regarded as more desirable and better tasting. As part of growing efforts to revive global millet production and consumption, the United Nations and its Food and Agriculture Organization, on India’s request, named 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM 2023). Two key properties of millets are repeatedly highlighted: first, their climate-smart properties, as millets can be cultivated in adverse and changing climatic conditions, with few inputs. These cereals can be a potential solution for many regions’ selfsufficiency and reduction of reliance on imported cereal grains.³ Second, millets’ health benefits as compared with other cereals: elevated levels of protein, fiber, key vitamins and minerals, including iron, zinc, and calcium.⁴ In addition to their nutritive value, millets are the main cereal for many cultural, ceremonial (funeral, wedding and baby showers) and religious (especially during the Muslim fasting month Ramadan) foods. Millets are gluten-free and have several potential health benefits relevant to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, among others (Saleh et al., 2013).

The FAO’s goal in 2023 is to increase awareness of millets’ production potential and enable the adoption of necessary policies which can maximise its nutritional and health benefits. Such policies should enable the creation and scaling of new sustainable market opportunities for producers and consumers.⁵

The following sections explore production and consumption patterns developing in key millet-producing regions, using examples of national and international ongoing public and private efforts that are affecting these patterns. Development actors, including financiers, can get new insights into the hypothetical (and audacious) question ‘should we go all in on millet?’. While the answer is likely ‘no’, the question is illustrative of the growing number of public nutrition campaigns, processors and brands which, in recent years, have started to aggressively promote millet’s nutritional and health benefits. The article includes case studies enterprises (as well as a project) which exemplify the diverse opportunities of investing in processors and brands to achieve farm-level and consumer-level impact.

Global production and consumption patterns

Production of millets

World millet production is estimated at 30.6 million tons in 2022. While millets are grown in more than 93 countries worldwide, only a few countries have a sizable production. India alone is responsible for 39% of global production, followed by Niger (11%) and China (9%). As a region, West Africa is the largest producer (Table 1).

Millets’ characteristics as dryland cereals make them much more resilient crops than maize and other major cereals and offer good insurance against crop failure. Millets offer shorter maturity periods – around 60-90 days for some cultivars - and lower post-harvest losses than other staples (Kaminski & Christiaensen, 2017). These can be important advantages for small-scale farmers, who account for the large majority of worldwide millet production, particularly as millets can be grown on arid lands and nutrient-depleted soils with minimal inputs such as water or fertiliser (Hassan et al., 2021). Finally, unlike wheat, maize and rice, millets emit little or no greenhouse gases (Saxena et al., 2019).

There are still a number of major production constraints, including limited access to modern equipment and technologies, such as good quality seeds and improved varieties and incidences of diseases, pests and weed infestations. Additionally, traditional methods of post-harvest processing (dehulling) are labor-intensive and time-consuming, and modern processing facilities are limited (Meena et al., 2021). In Mali, for example, according to the Institute of Rural Economy, the main challenges in promoting millets include limited availability of millet grains as raw material to processors, unattractiveness of packaging of end products, difficulties in transportation and storage, lack of capital to invest in machinery, lack of available equipment leading to manual labor still widely spread which limits outputs, and a lack of millet-specific capacity building for processors.⁸ These challenges speak to the underinvestment in and underdevelopment of millet value chains in major production countries, which makes it difficult to scale up production and meet the growing demand for millet products.

Consumption of millets

The Sahel region of Africa dominates global consumption of millets, followed by India, as the largest single consumer of millets. Most millets are consumed where they are produced, but there is also growing trade and important importers include Indonesia, Germany, Iran, Belgium and South Korea, among others.

About 80% of the millets produced are used for human consumption, while the rest is used as animal fodder and for beer production (Vinoth & Ravindhran, 2017). Individual kernels are commonly ground to make flour, which is then made into a thin or thick consistency porridge in many African countries, while in other areas it is consumed as a flatbread (e.g., dosa in India) or baked into a fried cake (e.g., masa in Nigeria) (Hasan et al., 2021). The shelf life of millet flour is short due to the presence of polyunsaturated (healthy) oils but can be extended using heat treatments and/or antioxidants (such as vitamin E or rosemary extract).⁹

Millets fell out of favor in many countries and started being seen as an old-fashioned poverty crop. In Senegal, for instance, consumption fell from 78 kilograms per capita in 1990 to 49 kilograms per capita in 2009 (Resnick et al., 2020). In India, per capita consumption of millet fell from 32.9 kg to 4.2 kg between 1962 and 2010.¹⁰ British colonizers disregarded millets in favor of wheat and other crops but with the Green Revolution millets’ downfall accelerated as the government pushed for hybrid, high-yield varieties of wheat and rice.¹¹ Crops that were once widely consumed became mere fodder crops. Millets gained a reputation as the food of rural and tribal communities and over time, they simply disappeared from households’ menus.

Recently, millets’ diverse health and environmental benefits are beginning to be appreciated once more. In the example of India, this is partly due to the country facing the triple burden of hunger, malnutrition and over-nutrition, whilst environmental resources are being depleted. The Indian government made significant investments in promoting millets’ many qualities to urban and rural consumers. Demand for millets is increasing and the crop is finding its way back into Indian diets.

At a global level millet is making an impressive comeback, with the global market being estimated at $9 billion in 2018. This is expected to grow to more than $12 billion in 2025.¹² Drivers for the anticipated growth are millets’ production advantages over rice and wheat, in particular in a dry climate, and the cereals’ multiple health benefits, including calcium, iron, fibers, vitamins, phosphorus, magnesium and manganese. Rising awareness towards healthy diets is expected to drive growth, especially among the rising urban population in Asia. As millets are also gluten-free, they offer opportunities to produce gluten-free products.

In sub-Saharan Africa, and especially in West Africa, many processors are promoting millet consumption by proposing new types of ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat millet foods (as opposed to selling millet products which require overnight processing (i.e., soaking) at home). For example, in Mali, a variety of new millet products are available in most small food stores, supermarkets and outdoor markets, such as couscous, granules of porridge and cream (Degue), millet flour, Larau (a mix of millet, groundnut and spices), millet biscuits, breads, pane cake, Takoula (bread made on vapor), infant foods, etc. In urban areas of Mali millet is considered a cereal for rich people, as higher prices of new millet products make these unaffordable to low-income consumers. Millet is used in many breakfast foods (porridge, fried cake, pane cake), often sold by women in small stands in urban areas.

Today the growing demand in West African countries leads to one of millet processors’ main challenges: the low supply of raw material, i.e., millet grains. Although the effort will take long, Indian urban consumers are being educated in the tastes and benefits of new millet products, and here too, demand is on the rise. It remains to be seen if international (Western) markets will catch up.

Millets as a superfood

The United Nations estimate that almost 3.1 billion people could not be able to afford a healthy diet in 2020, an increase of 112 million more people than in 2019 due to rising food costs. Particularly in Africa, a healthy diet is out of reach for 80% of the population, followed by Asia with 44% (FAO et al., 2022). While this may not lead to obvious hunger effects, it can cause different forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight / obesity (FAO, et al., 2022). Micronutrient deficiencies are widespread, as people rely on staple foods, such as rice, which are low in micronutrients to meet their energy requirements (FAO et al., 2022). Hence, improving micronutrient availability in foods, especially iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) is important to address underlying causes of malnutrition.

Different efforts to deliver nutrient-dense foods to poor populations can be distinguished: (1) food fortification and (2) biofortification. Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of one or more micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) in a food or condiment to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health.¹³ The usage of millets in fortified products has already gained some traction in infant food and nutrition products. Many countries have laws or policies to promote the use of post-harvest, industrial fortification to add iron to flour and other foods, but they are rarely enforced.¹⁴ In addition, while fortification is a cost-effective strategy, it remains difficult to ensure the availability of these fortified foods to people living in remote areas (Gangashetty et al., 2021).

In West Africa, OPVs with higher Fe/Zn levels were tested in different countries (Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ghana). To date, two OPVs and nine hybrids of pearl millet have been released in India (since 2014), Niger (2018) and Nigeria (2023). Annex 1 gives a full overview of these new varieties.

Public programmes enabling a re-emergence of millets

Various public and public-private programmes have been initiated in recent years, to promote millets’ production and consumption. A few examples from West Africa are given below, as well as a description of India’s efforts, a country which has invested heavily in millets over the past decade.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Mali, is co-lead of the five-year project Enhancing Crop Productivity and Climate Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security (EU-APSAN). This is part of ICRISAT’s focused efforts on increasing the popularity of smart foods, starting with millet and sorghum. The institute is training women associations and individual processors on improved new technologies of processing millet. It developed the scientific Smart Foods concept, marketing strategies and messaging, and worked on the classification and accreditation of smart foods.¹⁵ The approach of ICRISAT also aims to create consumer demand through viral campaigns, to facilitate processing of modern convenience products with Smart Foods, and to engage with the health, food service and media industries. ICRISAT is filling knowledge gaps, identifying and addressing scientific research needs on how smart foods affect consumers (nutrition and health), the planet, the farmer and the whole value chain (cooking, processing, marketing).

The EU-APSAN project goals formed the main themes in a recent conference on ‘Smart Foods’ in which millet’s potential for climate mitigation and health were highlighted. Many attendees aimed to learn about the development of millet value chains and how to enable more efficient and profitable millet processing as a Smart Food, attractive to both rural and urban consumers.¹⁶ The EU-APSAN-Mali project is undertaking market demand studies for different improved, hybrid millet varieties, and is planning various interventions to increase this demand.¹⁷

ICRISAT is providing an agribusiness incubator service and an Innovation Platform which brings together public-private partners, providing training, mentoring, access to finance and research and technology (e.g., on improved millet varieties). In India, 74 women farmers were trained by ICRISAT as nutrition entrepreneurs, to produce ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat millet and legume products that are supplied to childcare centres.¹⁸

Another example of a project which uses millet as a main ‘quality, fortified, manufactured food product to prevent malnutrition’ is MERIEM (French for: Mobilizing Sahelian Businesses for Innovative, Large-scale Responses to Fight Malnutrition), active in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger (Monroy-Gomez et al., 2022).¹⁹This project is funded by the French Development Agency and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and brings together NGOs and academia to test innovative commercial solutions with Sahelian private sector partners in response to malnutrition and related health issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. The actors aim to tackle anaemia (‘45% of women in the target countries’), and malnourishment (‘up to 19% in peri-urban areas’). MERIEM addresses availability and affordability of millet products, to address the problems identified in cities such as Ouagadougou where only 14% of outlets offer locally produced fortified foods for young children.

In Senegal, an international consortium (Food Processing and PostHarvest Handling Innovation Lab) aims to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies, reduce post-harvest losses, link farmers to markets, increase marketing opportunities, and increase and diversify food-processing markets for cereal and legume products (De Groote et al., 2021). The project introduced a marketdriven model for nutritionally enhanced foods, produced using novel technologies, and promoted consumers’ acceptance of four new pearl millet products, each with different traits: instant products, whole meal products, products fortified with commercial premix, and products with food-to-food fortification. Part of the project was an experimental study with 296 consumers from Dakar, which evaluated sensory characteristics as well as willingness to pay (WTP). Some fortified products’ sensory attributes were appreciated by consumers, who showed a willingness to pay premiums between 9 and 30 percent if offered nutritional information on the packaging, with the highest premium paid for whole grain instant millet fortified with premix (De Groote et al., 2021).

India and the IYM 2023

Millet diets in India phased out one to two generations ago, but there has recently been a surge in the government’s promotion of millets. Hundreds of startups are raising consumers’ awareness of the nutritional benefits of millets, and Indian urban consumers are slowly reintegrating millets into their diets (Dayakar and Tonapi, 2021). Realising the potential of millets for food and nutrition security, the Indian government has already taken several steps since 2012 to promote production and consumption, including celebrating the national year of millets in 2018. Now India is seeking to be at the forefront in celebrating IYM 2023, with public support by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the Global Millets Conference in March 2023, he called millets a solution for the problem of food and nutritional security faced by the world.

To mark the IYM 2023, India developed a multi-faceted action plan as a concerted effort involving Central Ministries, State Governments and Indian Embassies, but also societal stakeholders including farmers, start-ups, exporters, businesses, and hospitality organisations. The purpose is to position India as the ‘Global Hub of Millets’ and to enhance their production, processing, consumption, and exports. Activities are planned, aiming at various audiences. To promote millet production, incentives are provided to farmers under the National Food Security Mission, including farmer training, technology demonstrations and seed production programmes. There are also different incentive schemes to promote primary processing and production of millet-based foods, including for micro-entrepreneurs. Linked to this, the Indian Institute of Millets Research, recently upgraded as a Centre of Excellence, is undertaking various research projects related to shelf-life, food standards, value addition and product development. Finally, at consumption level, the government has rolled out several awareness-raising campaigns ranging from millet food festivals, releasing recipe books, including millet in school feeding programmes, and having airlines and railways serve millet dishes.

A recent study points out that millets in India²⁰ are in the ‘boom’ phase, and warns of a potential bust, comparing it with teff in Ethiopia and quinoa in the Andes (Andreotti et al., 2022). Risks include price escalations, the rapid increase in non-farming consumers coupled with slowly improving yields which can create a demand-supply gap, and the increase in exports by main producers which may negatively affect local markets.

Empirical cases

The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) has been committed to support the cultivation and development of sorghum and millet as food security and income-generating crops since 1994. Over the years, the CFC has committed over USD 8 million to initiatives focused on these vital crops. These cases below explore CFC’s and other sorghum development projects, elucidating the strategies employed, funding challenges, and the consequential impact on communities that rely on sorghum and millet for food security and economic sustainability. CFC’s continuing support extends beyond mere financial assistance, underpinning a broad spectrum of agricultural development with significant implications for poverty alleviation and socio-economic advancement.

Case 1: the valorisation of millet by ICRISAT and the Common Fund for Commodities²¹

Between 2005 and 2009, ICRISAT and the CFC have funded and implemented the project ‘Enhanced utilisation of sorghum and pearl millet grains in poultry feed industry to improve livelihoods of small-scale farmers in Asia’. Active in India, China and Thailand, the partners invested USD 2.1 million (including a USD 1.5 million grant from the CFC) in a range of interventions and technologies, targeting 7,500 small scale farmers organised in farmer organisations. Other targeted beneficiaries included business support service providers, off-takers, processors and local financiers.

A total of 15 partners were associated with the project in India, nine in China and five in Thailand. ICRISAT partnered with local universities and crop research institutes to identify suitable technologies which can increase production and to train farmers in adopting and using them. NGOs and farmers’ federations organised farmers into nine associations, which cascaded training, organised demonstrations and marketed the grains. Other partners included improved-varieties seed and input suppliers, feed manufacturers and grain processors who also provided offtake, storage and transport services.

As a precursor to public-private initiatives promoting biofortified varieties for human consumption and nutrition objectives, this project from ICRISAT and the CFC introduced and distributed 35 improved varieties and hybrids of sorghum and pearl millet seeds.

Over 100 training sessions were organised for over 7,500 farmers (including 3,000 women) on improved technologies, new science tools in agriculture, soil testing, planting, intercropping, integrated crop, nutrient and pest management, harvesting, seed production, storage, marketing, organisational management and finance. The project produced information materials in local languages and held over 175 field demonstrations on farmers’ fields. Scientists visited farmers regularly to address any production challenges. Farmers were linked to seed and input suppliers and encouraged to make direct purchases. Eight village-level warehouses were built, and the famer associates were trained in managing them, enabling the storage of produce and its sale at favourable times. Partners also organised the provision of low-interest loans, enabling farmers to buy inputs and to store grains until prices improved. Ultimately, the partners organised regular meetings between the farmers’ associations and private-sector buyers, which led to strong partnerships and the sale of grains in bulk at price premiums.

Impact achieved by the project

The project reached 6,290 families in 71 Indian villages, and 506 families in seven villages in Thailand, and 631 families in nine Chinese villages. To improve production, the project distributed the seed of these improved varieties and hybrids for farmers to buy. It built village grain storage warehouses and facilitated low-interest loans and links with buyers. It helped the farmers organise themselves into farmers’ associations, provided them with training and information materials. A contract farming model was popularised in China, with three buyers making purchasing arrangements with around 150 families. Among project beneficiaries in India, yields of pearl millet grain rose by an average of 32%, and fodder yields went up by 20%. Yields of sorghum increased by 19% to 73%. By buying in bulk, farmers were able to cut the cost of seed by 13–51%. Adoption rates of improved varieties and hybrids ranged from 3 to 88%.

The warehouses attracted several processors to buy grain, and convinced banks to provide short-term credit to the farmers to meet immediate cash needs using the stored grain as collateral. Market links were created between farmers’ associations and various food, alcohol and poultry feed processors. In China, associations were engaged in contract farming with the alcohol industry, with three buyers buying sorghum at or above an agreed floor price. In Thailand, two years after the project ended, farmers were selling sorghum to the duck-feed industry and mushroom producers.

While the participation of women in Thailand and China was satisfactory from the start, in India, cultural reasons meant that initially only a few women farmers participated. The project partners promoted women’s involvement (e.g., women’s selfhelp groups were included in seed distribution) and women’s leadership in trainings and in the management committees of farmers’ associations.

Case 2: the valorisation of millet by Shalem, Kenya

Shalem Investment Ltd. (Shalem) is an innovative social forprofit business aggregating, transporting, and marketing grains, cereals and legumes for use by agri food processors (i.e. East African Breweries, Unga Ltd, and Bidco). In the last five to six years, Shalem transitioned from a grain aggregator to an added-value manufacturer and deepened its producer engagement. The company provides 46 full-time and 401 temporary jobs.

In 2017 Shalem obtained a loan co-financed by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), which was used to build a storage facility, to allow its supplying smallholder farmers to benefit from periods of high prices. Shalem’s vision is exemplified in the recent food prices rise (e.g., maize prices in Kenya almost doubled in 2022). The company absorbed the added purchasing costs, aiming to offer affordable products to consumers with limited purchasing power.

The CEO of Shalem reports in 2023 that their use of millet is still limited, but that she recognises the growing interest in biofortified millets. The company so far uses pearl millet and finger millet for producing porridge flour.²² Shalem built a processing factory in 2019, in which they fortify foods (mainly sorghum) with minerals and vitamins. These value-added products account for 70% of its revenue, which Shalem obtains from its targeted low-income consumers (52,000 individual consumers in 2021).²³

Marketing activities of Shalem are centered around the promotion of quality milled products. These are ranging from maize flour to porridge, fortified with extra minerals and vitamins ‘to provide health benefits that will extend your life and improve your life through what you eat.’ The first nutritional products, Asili Plus and Ugali porridge, were launched in 2018 in schools. As of 2020, these are available in over 50 retail locations.

Current and potential impact of Shalem’s use of millet

In 2021 alone, Shalem supported more than 40,000 smallholder farmers (100% increase since 2017), of which 74% were women, boosting household incomes by an average of USD 240 per year. Technical assistance and trainings to 20,000 producers have led to average yields of 1,350 kilograms per hectare (kg/ha), up from a minimum of 650 kg/ha in 2020. For the coming five years, Shalem is in the process of expending the topics of its agronomic training programmes, adding soil testing, linking farmers to certified seeds and other farm inputs, assisting them in adopting new technologies and providing access to microloans. These improvements are expected to further increase yields and volume sourced and to create an additional 17 full time jobs.

Besides the support and price stability for smallholder suppliers, Shalem aims to provide affordable nutritional food for the poorest people in the region. More than 50% of its sold products will be fortified with needed minerals and vitamins, although there are no targets yet for millet specific ingredients.

CFC support 

CFC provided a loan to Shalem, to enable the company’s investment in storage and processing facilities, for Shalem to access the Bottom-of-Pyramid (BoP) market with more innovative nutritious blended food.²⁴ Shalem aims to invest in a storage facility and in a value addition facility for maize cleaning and blending with sorghum, millet and beans for better nutrition bonding. These investments would reduce the financial risks that local farmers are facing due to volatile maize prices while addressing the need of their nutrition security.

Case 3: the valorisation of millet by Fountainhead Foods, India – Health Sutra brand

Health Sutra is one of India’s first brands that sources millets directly from farmers and processes them for creating innovative and convenient food formats. The founder of Fountainhead Foods Private Limited, with a background in engineering, switched careers as he realised the potential impacts of millets in his home country. The company was established in 2013, with the dual mission to solve farmers’ challenges related to growing crops in dry areas, and to help modern urban individuals to eat healthier.

Under the brand name of Health Sutra, the company launched 25 products, in categories of flakes, biscuits, rawas, beverage mixes and diet namkeen. About 80% of sales come from products which are 100% millet. 20% of sales come from products which are 30-40% millet. These are currently sold in over 3,500 retail locations around the city of Hyderabad, with a geographic focus on Southern India.²⁵

In 2018, the Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture selected Health Sutra as one of the 20 best agri-startups.²⁶ In the last five years the company experienced significant growth and as of 2023 it is processing 30 MT per month. Health Sutra currently employes 25 full-time staff (15 female, 10 male), the majority in production and sales. It has a total annual turnover of USD 500,000. A new USD 6 million factory, partly financed by a local bank, opens in October 2023.

The first and largest over-arching challenge for Health Sutra (and for similar millet-focused companies) is that advanced processing technologies and techniques for millet are not yet available, compared with those used in maize-based breakfast cereals in Western supermarkets.²⁷ Secondly, the lack of awareness from consumers requires large investments in marketing and millet startups recognise that it is ‘early times for the millet sector and there is a long way to go.’²⁸

To overcome these challenges, Health Sutra invested in a new factory, and experimented with various marketing and promotional messages (e.g., on packaging, website, through videos and social media). The company believes that millets will be back in mainstream diets, if customers feel that it is easy to use, cook and consume. Consumers should not be required to put in any additional efforts versus what they are already used to when consuming ready-to-eat products. This is why Health Sutra’s founder focuses on the company’s innovations in the processing of ingredients, for example by producing ragi from finger millet, which can be consumed simply as a breakfast cereal. The company precooks and pre-soaks millet grains (time and effort-intensive activities which other bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers, for example in West African countries, commonly do themselves at home).

Current and potential impact of Fountainhead Food’s use of millet

The creation of innovative millet products was enabled by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, which provided Fountainhead Foods with technologies and recipes for producing instant millet mixes, jowar vermicelli (a gluten-free and protein rich millet), multigrain atta (a type of flour) and cookies. After working with the public institute on natural processing methods, Fountainhead Foods reintroduced traditional Indian millet grains in tasty formats ‘suitable for modern lifestyles’.²⁹

The Health Sutra promotional messages currently centre almost entirely on millet’s benefits for health-conscious consumers (rather than on socio-economic or environmental benefits for producers). Various myths around millet are broken down in videos on the company’s YouTube channel and websites, recipes are promoted, and each product is presented with facts about its nutritional properties. For example, for the brand’s foxtail millet products, the following benefits are described:

• Foxtail is packed with good quality fibre which improves digestion, manages obesity, regulates blood sugar levels and curbs the risk of high blood pressure and strokes. 100gm of Foxtail contains more than 8 grams of dietary fibre.

• One cup of Foxtail has 29 grams of Protein. Protein helps in building muscles, cell regeneration, and gives a feeling of satiety which further helps in weight reduction.

• Low glycaemic index, High-fibre and good Protein content of Jowar makes it an excellent diabetic option. Both fibre and protein in Jowar help slow down the release of sugars into the blood preventing sugar fluctuations thereby controlling Diabetes.

• Iron and copper are two important minerals found in Foxtail. Iron is crucial for development of red blood cells in the body, while copper helps enhance the absorption of iron in the body thus improving overall circulation of blood in the body.

For Health Sutra’s founder and CEO, the opportunities for creating a profitable business case for a millet-brand, coincide with the grain’s impact potential opportunities. These can be grouped in three categories: nutritional (millets have a large number of unique selling points in this category, which helped in the growth of Health Sutra sales), climate resiliency (millets are the most climate resilient crop on the planet, although promoting this to consumers did not translate to sales), and traditional diet aspects (which when used in marketing activities also did not result into increase sales).³⁰ The Health Sutra founder compares millet with quinoa, a grain native to South America, which is exported and consumed around the world: ‘Millets can stand on their own against any other super food. Foxtail millet for example has very good amount of protein, a macronutrient in high-demand.’³¹

The business case is positively affected by the brand’s distribution and sales through physical retail locations. As the company’s breakfast products are voluminous in nature, logistics costs for online sales and delivery would be too high. Such costs cannot be absorbed by an increase in prices. As Health Sutra’s customers have many mainstream products (millet alternatives) available, consumer prices need to stay competitive. The company cannot ask for premiums above 20-30%, which it currently charges for the products’ nutritional benefits.³²

The founder of Fountainhead Foods and his partners believe in the potential for an increase in local consumption but also in exports (exemplified by their recent investment in a new factory). India has many advantages in terms of affordable inputs and labor and food production and processing offer many opportunities. Compared with other producing countries, the operating environment is very stable (many producers were affected by the Russia-Ukraine war). According to the Health Sutra founder, large companies in India are also looking at adding millet to their products. Smaller and up-and-coming businesses such as Fountainhead Foods would benefit from an increase in the size of the millet market, with large players driving more consumer awareness and smaller players riding this wave.³³

Farm-level impact is primarily achieved through the climateresilient properties of millet and through the increase in prices over the past years. For example, Health Sutra is purchasing pearl-millet at 50-60% higher prices than 7-8 years ago, and its founder recognises the various governmental policies which have contributed to these increases.³⁴

Case 4: the valorisation of millet by Wacoul Service, Mali³⁵

From aggregation to value-added processing of biofortified millet

Wacoul Service is a firm specialised in agro-processing in Mali. It was created in 2017 by Mrs. Raihatou Wague with the aim to promote the consumption of locally produced foods and the creation of jobs for women and youth.

Wacoul sources and processes a large number of agricultural products including: fonio, rice, sorghum, millet, groundnut, mangos, bissaps and gengember. Amongst the company’s output products are: pre-cooked fonio, pre-cooked djouka, couscous of millet, millet flour, Tiagri, Segou Degue, brisure of maize, Monikourouni (porridge granules), instant drink of mangos, bissaps and gengember, biscuits of millet, Larau (mix of millet, groundnuts and spicies), fried cake of millet and pane cake of millet.

Wacoul sources millet grains, paying in cash, and supports farmer groups from Baraweli in the Segou region. Building sourcing and trust relationships with farmers was difficult in the beginning, but at present a good collaboration is established. Aggregation and processing occur at the company’s facilities in Bamako, with end products being sold at the same location or at local retailers (small shops and supermarkets). Small volumes are also exported to Gabon, Guinea, Senegal and France.

The company’s processing capacity is 50 metric tons of millet per year. It has 14 employees among which four are permanent. It is managed by the owner, director of production and a director of marketing. Its close partners are the national Laboratory of Food Technology (LTA) of the National Institute of Agriculture Research (IER) of Mali and various NGOs.

Wacoul Service participates regularly to promotional fares where it exhibits its products. The company’s director travelled to India for an exposition where she was introduced to new millet products, which she is now aiming to produce in Mali. One of these will contain a fortified millet formula with iron, zinc and vitamins, targeted as a nutritional product for both infants and adults.

Main challenges faced by the company related to its access to raw material (millet grains), in enough quantity and of sufficient quality, the instability of market prices of end products, the lack of ‘adapted’ equipment to process big quantities, and the inappropriate packaging available on the market for storage over long periods, for transportation over long distances, and for appropriate consumer-friendly, attractive marketing.

The company highlights the opportunities arising from its use of millet compared to other crops, such as: the diversity of food types of millets, the use of millet in almost all cultural, ceremonial (funeral, weeding, baby showers, etc.) religious dishes, the gluten-free and easy to digest properties, the richness in micronutrients, the existence of local and international markets, the availability of biofortified new varieties, and the opportunities to generate new jobs for women and youth.

Current and potential impact of Wacoul Service’s use of millet

As millet can be produced on low-fertility soils and tolerates high temperatures resulting from climate change in sub-Saharan Africa, the company considers the use of millet as urgent. It can reduce the productivity losses and it can contribute to fighting against food insecurity and extreme poverty in rural areas.

Wacoul’s mission is to leverage the diversity of millet products and markets (domestic, regional and global), to enable job creation for women and youth in processing, distribution and sales. The promotion of processing opportunities for smallholder millet farmers offers a cash alternative and leads to a higher motivation for investing in production, using improved seed varieties and fertilisers to increase productivity.

As a third impact area, the company recognises millet’s health benefits, due to its micronutrient rich properties.

Conclusions – Do we go all-in?

From the increase in the number of public and private-public programmes promoting millets, and from various recent studies on the crop’s climate-resiliency and nutritional properties, we conclude that millets form some of the most dynamic and fastest-growing value chains in LMIC. An increasing number of startups active in processing and branding millets as ready-toeat or ready-to-cook products are benefiting from the growing interest in millet as well as fuelling this trend. India seems to be positioning itself as a global leader in moving the millet sector towards a modern, consumer-focused market. In West Africa, countries like Senegal and Mali are supporting the upscaling of a large share of micro-businesses into SME processors, brands and retailers, presenting unique opportunities for creating employment and wealth among youth and women entrepreneurs (Resnick et. al., 2020).

The renewed global interest in millets can be seen in conjunction with several global and regional developments, such as the reoccurring droughts (e.g., in Africa), the war forged by Russia in Ukraine which led to a spike in food prices and fertiliser prices across the world, and the increasing realisation of the contribution of wheat, rice and maize production to global warming. However, millet value chain actors are confronted with underinvestment, high marketing costs, unstructured markets and millet’s old stigma as a poor person’s food (Resnick et. al., 2020). If millet is to make a compelling comeback, innovative, multi-disciplinary partnerships, programmes and technologies must be employed, covering the largest possible spectrum of the crop’s value chain, from field-level improvements, innovations in processing and branding and consumer acceptance of new products to the policies affecting the sector. Policies need to target the emerging millet processors to enable access to finance, services, knowledge and technology, to create competitive domestic, regional and global sectors, drive innovation and meet consumers’ preferences and food standards.

International organisations are calling for increasing the production of millets, particularly due to their ability to grow in hot and drought-stricken regions. ICRISAT, for instance, estimates that millet production (pearl millet and sorghum) can be enhanced in Africa by at least 2-3 times in 2022/23, to solve food security threats, such as the anticipated wheat crisis. However, with the enthusiasm present in producing countries’ markets and in international development discourse, the risk to repeat previous mistakes must be counterbalanced. Millet markets should not repeat the boom-and-bust cycle evidenced for example in the quinoa and teff sectors (Andreotti et al., 2022) (Box 2).

Depending on the audience, the answer to the question of ‘going all-in on millet’ will obviously vary, per interest, resources and region. Two of the enterprises interviewed for this article (Health Sutra and Wacoul), have certainly placed their bets on millet, and its environmental and climate benefits for producers, its potential for job creation (processing, marketing, sales) and income increase (for producers and successful processors and brands), and its nutritional benefits for a wide range of consumers. Other grain processors (Shalem) are more cautious but are also witnessing an increased interest in millet and are exploring opportunities to source and use more of this grain.

Analysing recent literature and taking a systemic view, it is likely that production and processing-related challenges of millet value chains, such as access to quality seeds and processing equipment, are not that much different from those of other staple crops. Yet the opportunities seem compelling, compared to other cereal crops. The growing public and private support of millet value chains – from production to consumption – is indicative of the vast potential of this crop in supporting farmers’ livelihoods, improving nutrition levels of both poor and affluent consumers, and making an important contribution to climate change adaptation. Moreover, by harnessing the potential of millets, we can address the challenges of food and nutrition security, promote sustainable agriculture, support rural livelihoods, and contribute to a healthier and more resilient food system.

¹ The article has been prepared by the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam. Authors: Bitzer, V., Petrutiu, S., Huet, E. and Diallo, M. (2023). https://www.kit.nl/publications/working-paper-series

² https://www.harvestplus.org/home/catalyzing-markets/

³ https://www.fao.org/millets-2023/en

⁴ https://pressroom.icrisat.org/millets-the-nutritional-powerhouses-making-a-comeback-in-2023

⁵ https://www.icrisat.org/smartfood/

⁶ https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/cropview/commodityView.aspx?cropid=0459100

⁷ https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230208-why-2023-is-the-year-of-millets

⁸ Interview with representative of the Institute of Rural Economy (16 May 2023)

⁹ https://www.harvestplus.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Iron-Pearl-Millet.pdf

¹⁰ World Food Program and Odisha Millet Mission 2022. Increasing the consumption of millets: need of the hour. https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000144439/download/?_ga=2.50371434.299532067.1684301226-1701232443.1681377916

¹¹ https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230208-why-2023-is-the-year-of-millets

¹² Oswal, S. (2023). The importance of Millets in today’s global scenario. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/the-importance-of-millets-intodays-global-scenario/

¹³ https://www.who.int/health-topics/food-fortification#tab=tab_1.

¹⁴ HarvestPlus (2023). Iron Pearl Millet. Improving food and the food system with a naturally nutritious harvest. https://www.harvestplus.org/crop/iron-pearl-millet/

¹⁵ https://www.icrisat.org/smartfood/

¹⁶ https://www.icrisat.org/eu-and-icrisat-in-mali/

¹⁷ https://ue-apsan-mali.com/en/home/

¹⁸ https://pressroom.icrisat.org/harvesting-hope-empowering-tribal-women-as-millet-entrepreneurs

¹⁹ http://www.meriem-nutrition.org/en/

²⁰ Authors’ note: and perhaps soon in other producing countries.

²¹ All information based on ‘From Sorghum to Shrimp’ report by Royal Tropical Institute and Common Fund for Commodities (2011)

²² https://shaleminvest.co.ke/index.php/asili-plus/

²³ Information on the business case of millet products versus other products in the portfolio was not obtained.

²⁴ https://www.common-fund.org/reducing-vulnerability-price-volatility-kenya 

²⁵ http://www.healthsutra.in/products.php

²⁶ https://www.icfa.org.in/assets/doc/reports/all-india-agri-startup-convention-2018.pdf

²⁷ Interview with Health Sutra CEO.

²⁸ Idem

²⁹ http://www.healthsutra.in/our-story.php

³⁰ Personal communication with Health Sutra CEO.

³¹ Idem

³² Idem

³³ Idem

³⁴ Idem

³⁵ All information based on the interview with the company’s director.

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