African Crops For the Future E03: Pearl Millet (Cenchrus americanus/ Pennisetum glaucum)

It's just a boring old grain, right?! Well, not exactly. This is one of Africa's original grains, which has been slowly supplanted by maize over much of the continent during the last 200 years. And yet it is, on so many levels, a far superior grain in terms of both its nutritional properties and its climate-resilience as a crop. In this episode of his ongoing series on African Crops of the Future, Gus (the African Plant Hunter) goes in depth into some of the properties and benefits of this hugely under-appreciated plant.
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#cropsforthefuture
#millet
#pennisetumglaucum
#cenchrusamericanus

[@mengistok]

We call it Mahangu, it's a staple for the Ovambo of Namibia. It's our gold. The brew you mentioned is Oshikundu here. We also make cakes called oshikwiila. Lovely

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Can't wait to taste some of your Namibian recipes. I'll be there very soon, so I'm looking forward to it!

[@vineleak7676]

Your channel is way up there for all the plant, agriculture and botany enthusiasts... A wealth of information on african plants that was desperately missing. It seems that on KZbin only your channel and Jibril entreprise channel cover this topic.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you! I hope others will follow in time!

[@neelsolanki9400]

This is great! Love all the millets and I hope they have a more prominent role as staple crops in the future. Love to hear about all these lesser known crops, keep it up I look forward to even more!

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

More coming, I promise!

[@finaltouchpro648]

Where have you been all my life?! Awesome content!

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Aah, thank you. Now that's a comment I'll frame and stick on my wall!

[@ZimbaDiva]

Gosh you’ve explained something I’ve been struggling to articulate to my peers! Thank you for explaining it so well. We have these health problems because we are eating a foods with zero nutritional value. Looking forward to more of your videos

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks, I'm glad you found it helpful. It's an inconvenient truth, but the food we've all been brainwashed into loving actually isn't good for us. And then, even worse, we're replacing it in the 21st century with chicken and chips! No wonder everyone's getting sick.......

[@p-jo]

Thank you . I have just discovered your channel and have subscribed. I love your content. Keep going

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you!

[@purandharkubanooraya493]

You are just superb... I am a farmer from India..love to go on listining to your talks

[@antonhuman8446]

The prince of the present virus, mister jill bates says look for the simple answers. And millet. E.g. is THE simple answer. But. As mentioned. No matter what quality rubbish maize might be. Like father. Like son. Excellent presentations. Thank you!

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you!

[@uvencio1122]

Good one!!

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks!

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

I'm real curious how yield compares there. In the USA, hybrid corn yields 150+ bushels per acre, millet is about 70. In the southern states army worm is an equal opportunity destroyer, attacking millet as well as corn. Except for GMO corn which is immune to army worm, earworm, and rootworm.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Yield is a factor of many things, not all of them sustainable. In many of the drier parts of Africa (which is the majority of Africa!), if you planted hybrid corn and millet next to each other, without any irrigation, fertiliser or herbicide, the corn would die and the millet would survive. Corn yields may be higher when you irrigate, fertilise and fumigate, but the hidden environmental and climate costs are also very high.

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

@@AfricanPlantHunterYield is a factor in how many people get to eat. Maybe at the limit millet is always better. Maybe it would depend on the corn variety. The Zuni have been growing corn in the desert for a thousand years.

[@odhiamboomulo5937]

​@@AfricanPlantHuntervery true. Millet, sorghum, cassava, arrow roots and sweet potato just don't care about inputs 😅. They just need sufficient moisture...

[@musajabi1923]

Pearl millet is alkaline also?

[@jeffreyscanlan839]

Love this series. I've been heading down this road the last several years, looking for plants that will grow without chemicals and that are drought tolerant. Actually I got some African millet I will be planting in the next several weeks. I think the plant kingdom has so much to offer besides the meager choices that you get at the grocery store. Millet beer? Might have to try that one. Thanks Gus, I appreciate what you do.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks Jeff, always good to hear from you! ?And yes, I'm most definitely working on millet beer. She's a comin'!

[@juliaherbet2063]

With the ever growing droughts, growing these grains will help you to never go hungry. People just have to understand what this climate change needs depending on which part of the world you are from

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

You are so right. I think people are beginning to understand this, but it's taking a looooong time!

[@lofulsorro2841]

We grow them in sudan and South sudan

[@kukuipupule4415]

sold as wild bird seed in the 1st world

[@MarSchlosser]

Maize is not and never was meant to be something we had to eat. American Indians grew it as a treat for sweet corn and beer. No grain was all that important because we're meat eaters. fruit and vegetables in season, often dried for winter, but fruit was usually liquified (AKA wine). Beer was usually sour mash, which could be stored in fermenting jars buried in the ground, then frozen in winter for early type of bourbon. Here, Arizona, honey mesquite was queen of the gardens.

[@Nangiesx]

In my tribe Oshiwambo, this our staple food. We make Pap, porridge, bread, Oshikundu, other drinks from this. Yoh, if it is not in my home, I am hungry already even if there is rice and maize meal. And we use the strong stalks to build our homes though now with other combination of seed that do not have strong stems, things are changing. Thank you for the credits.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@AjayTiwari-en9nz]

This beautiful millet plant is just amazing. My diabetic mother replaced rice with pearl millet, wheat flour with barley flour and became free of all diabetes meds.

[@ranchoelchamusquito3683]

awesome! but this video is very subversive big agro buisness will try to cancel you fren

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Yep, that's absolutely true!

[@Lawiah0]

Yahweh (YHVH), the God Behold the Adamic-man, the Christian Race ... Cush (Greek: Ethiopia), means sun-burnt face Phoenicians described by the Greeks, as fair-haired, fair-skinned people Persia means Lord of the Aryans now renamed IRAN Zimbabwe once known as Rhodesia Chicongo once known as Chicago ... 12 Tribes passed through the Caucasus Mountains (i)ssac's Sons / Saxons / Anglo-Saxons / Europe / Australia / New Zealand / Canada / North America / First World / "We the People" ... Not kind after kind ... 38 For as in those days before the flood, *they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,* until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, *so will be the coming of the Son of Man.*

[@muhammedjaseemshajeef6781]

Pearl millet is widely consumed in india mainly in the states of gujarat , Rajasthan and haryana

[@kudzaichidzikwe6738]

Nice & very informative video. Adoption of small grains has been quite low though they might be a better option considering our climate in certain areas. Some villagers have cited they are difficult to handle and process after harvesting thereby continuing with maize. Need to come up with methods which pose no difficulty in harvesting and processing for better adoption.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Totally agree! These are technical challenges which we can overcome very quickly if we put our mind to it. so far, we haven't really tried to solve, so they haven't been solved. Imagine the creative energy that Zimbabweans expend every day just surviving! If you could direct even a small fraction of that energy towards solving this problem, we'd have it fixed tomorrow!

[@viewersstop7720]

The British brought pearl millet, sorghum to india which has become a staple food

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Wow, thanks for sharing that, which I did not know!

[@muhammedjaseemshajeef6781]

No😂british did not brought it

[@MrArthoz]

Maize lacks nutrition if you did not nixtamal it. Maize was exported from the Americas but people ignores to export the method to unlocks its nutrition which is nixtamalization which leads to fatal disease like pellagra. But yes, better other grains like millet or sorghum. Here in Southeast Asia sorghum is replacing rice, especially in Indonesia.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks, yes, nixtamalisation is not done at all in most of Africa. One of the many reasons we need to focus more on our indigenous grains!

[@jonasmolepo8631]

Hello sir I need your halp to find a seed of unyawothi

[@sonikku956]

Maize isn't inherently bad, you just have to nixtamalize it so you can unlock all of its nutritional value. That being said, pearl millet should be grown heavily.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Absolutely. The problem is that nobody in southern Africa does nixtamalize it, which is definitely an issue!

[@Ndabemlambo]

Really loved this and found it very informative.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bilaalmanselljones10]

How about Tylosema.fassoglensis or T.Esculentum; plectranthus esculentus; Sesbania.bispinosa;S.rostrata; S.sesban; Telfairia.pedata; Coccinia.sp; Dioscorea.sp and maybe a domesticated form of Vigna vexilata

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Aah, thanks for all those suggestions. Series 2 is clearly justified!

[@elsabadenhorst9746]

Thank you🌹

[@heyfred7263]

Maybe a video on best/favorite recipes useing millet. Thank you for sharing. God loves you.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you, I'm working on it!

[@severtone263]

You earned my sub buddy, just caught wind of you in a whatsapp grp on this very episode. Looking fwd to more content.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks so much!

[@joken8028]

Gus.... just subscribed, I appreciate your content and research. Looking forward to more videos. Cheers.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you! And I appreciate your kind words!

[@leedza]

Ancient grains are future. Drought tolerant, don't require a lot of fertiliser and nutritious.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Yes, exactly!

[@brighttendaimuvirimi1905]

It's good for repressing the invasive witchweed: Striga

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks for sharing. That's very good to know!

[@nkosiemahlangu1158]

Awesome info as always

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Appreciate that!

[@mazvita1238]

Thank you once again Gus.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

My pleasure!

[@greatoutdoors630]

Very good advice!

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Glad you think so! Thank you!

[@thendarasworld7692]

Mashangu, Mahangu in 🇳🇦

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks for sharing!

[@MrRastafari01]

Great video!

[@Shamwari1960]

Great series -

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you, I really appreciate that!

[@brianndhlovu2926]

Lovely

[@linahchiwambo9836]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

My pleasure, and thank you!