Pearl Millet: The Drought-Resistant Grain

we're back to looking at Ancient Grains again today but this one is a special grain sure sure we've covered te and sorghum on this channel before and they were Mighty impressive but this Channel's researcher has a special place in her heart for Pearl Millet because it was the staple food that she grew up with herself almost every morning was started with a bowl of mahango porridge and liberal amounts of brown sugar like so many children in the south of Africa have had for thousands of years archaeobotanical research shows that the early strains of pearl Millet were already well established in prehistoric times times and the first signs of domestication were in Mali and the General West African area its wild ancestors are still found in those areas to this day not having changed much since the last pterodactyls flew in the sky and the first mammals began walking around those first domesticated strands about 2 to 3 thousand years ago were grown alongside other grains and plant varieties it made up a valuable part of people's diets but it wasn't really a main staple it did however make its way to East Africa Egypt and across the continent to India India took a liking to the Grain and they're still the largest producers and exporters of it to this day but it finally found its forever home with the banto tribes that made their way down south in Africa places like Namibia Botswana and a large chunk of South Africa had terribly dry and sometimes inhospitable conditions to contend with but this passenger didn't seem to mind all that much where it was put down it just thrived where corn and cereal varieties failed miserably because of the drought Pearl Millet managed to keep those new arriv Rivals fed better than the less drought resistant crops it is still the staple food of many people in batswana to a lesser degree in Zimbabwe and Zambia but none more so than in Namibia a country that's made up of no less than 70% desert the namibians call it mahangu and from it they make porridge flatbread fermented drinks they feed their animals and they make an excellent beer with it their way of growing and pounding the grain with pounding logs hasn't changed for hundreds of years it's a good thing that the kids get so much energy from those pancakes because they are usually the ones in charge of pounding the grain into flour though modern Grainer in the country produce popped rice and breakfast cereals from it now but even here very little is done to change the grain or add much to it just like the native people still grow and consume it with little to no interference from pesticides and lots of chemicals during the manufacturing process so do the manufacturers also keep their Millet products relatively unsullied it's an interesting looking grain with its tightly packed seed heads forming a top that looks like a little like Riverside Cattails from afar though the brown Pearl Millet is what's mostly grown on homesteads and Farms there are varieties that range from cream white all the way to a deep purple the wild variants are a little smaller standing only a few inches off the ground where the commercially grown kinds reach a meter or two high but even the domesticated Millet is still related to its wild ancestors by 85 to 90% of their DNA from a commercial crop perspective it's barely moved away from its roots at all in the thousands of years under human care this is virtually unheard of in agriculture give it any kind of soil and it'll grow just fine Sandy Rocky or high acidic soils honestly it couldn't care less where you put it if it's hot and dry they'll be as happy as can be under ideal conditions a field can be harvested in as little as 45 days most homesteads allow their cattle to trample in fertilizer field before laying down seeds and that's all the fertilizer that it needs for its entire growth cycle most other crops might not like the high acidity that comes with fresh manure that is still in the process of composting but Pearl Millet prefers it that way fresh chicken droppings are added to the fields too and foul manure has a habit of decomposing so hot that it can burn sproutlings but not for the mighty mahangu a little water during their beginning stages should be more than enough after they've reached the halfway mark of their growth cycle they'll only need the Morning Dew or what little water nature provides for them it's not that they need the environment dry Pearl Millet just doesn't need you to overthink its watering or fertilizer schedule besides being fine with high acidity it's also one of the few staple crops that grow in high salinity soils and can be watered with brackish water this is a very valuable trait in niia where deep Wells that produce water that's not fit for drinking is sometimes all there is to work with since it grows so fast it can give you two major harvests in a single season or use as a cover crop in between plantings if you have a two-month layover between plantings and you don't want to leave a field standing empty it just doesn't do well in the cold but don't think because you live in the Northern Hemisphere that it means that you can't grow it at all even Russia as cold as it is grows Pearl Millet in its short summer seasons summers in Russia are still colder than Winters are in Namibia so it's not like you'll be limited by your climate all that much yes once the frost comes your planting days are over for the year any other time outside of the frost and snow and your Millet can go into the ground with minimal field preparation from you unlike wheat and corn that can be overcome with smut and mold from the Cold Spring rains Pearl Millet though not completely immune is much less susceptible than the other field crops the biggest consideration to take is that their crops go very deep in the ground being that they are a drought hearty crop it should be expect Ed that their roots go deeper to seek water on paper Pearl millets digestible energy is comparable to Corn but they blow corn out of the water with their protein percentages standing at 12 to 15% they are much more appropriate for the high demanding beef and pig feed that just needs more carbs and protein than most other grain sorts can provide on their own all the B vitamins calcium magnesium fiber iron and zinc are all in high quantities the only thing that pearlet lacks is lysine and as you know lysine is invaluable in animal feed so even though any livestock can be fed on Pearl Millet alone covering all of their nutritional needs it just falls short as a main food source because of its lack of Lysine predictably those who are more healthc conscious have been the main driver for Pearl Millet to reach our grocery store aisles like quinoa and amaranth those seeking a gluten-free grain that actually holds protein and the necessary B vitamins for optimal nutritional value found what they're looking for in Pearl Millet the stuff is heavy there's a reason kids have a bowl of porridge or a pancake for breakfast and managed to go through the whole day with almost nothing else most people who never had it find it too rich and too heavy to have much of it at all before they feel like their stomachs are going to burst the beer and fermented drinks made from it are incredibly filling too and on their own are also had instead of a full breakfast it has all the nutrients that a protein shake would but it's even more filling perfect to have after a heavy workout in places where it's traditionally grown nursing mothers babies and toddlers never go a day without eating Pearl Millet in some form or another given it high amounts of energy growing children and milk producing mothers in southern Africa are very much reliant on it to meet their demanding nutritional needs and it's been said to lower cholesterol and be the best high energy source for those with diabetes there aren't all that many studies out there to give Credence to these claims but the communities who sustain themselves with pearl Millet swear by its heart strengthening power but even if you aren't interested in Pearl Millet to give you that extra gym boost or to add it to your daily diet it's still an enormous advantage to have as animal fod there are no limits to what species of livestock it can feed it grows for a fraction of the stress and cost that other grains and cereals do and it's the most non-nonsense and quick harvesting grain that you can find under ideal conditions it produces 70% more grain than other Millet varieties like the other millets Pearl is planted closer together than wheat and sorghum and with those huge seed heads you'll get higher yields than you'll know what to do with and even though only the grain is used most of the time the leaf stem and roots are all edible this is a huge Advantage for those who practice rotation grazing pigs especially will till that field up to get at the roots underground meaning that you can leave the tilling over to them instead of bringing in the tractor it has very little insect pressure only stink bugs and nematodes really make an appearance and even then it's negligible the birds are another story though they love Millet no matter what variety you have deer other wild bucks and rodents can do a bit of damage too but is that really all that surprising get a few cats to keep the flighted and rodent pests in line and make sure your fences are up standard and your losses will be almost non-existent Pearl Millet doesn't like it when it rains during its flowering stage and it wants high heat during the daytime it can get diseases brought on by cold but when it does reach the stage in the season when Frost sets in it won't even bother trying to keep itself alive through the smut it'll die overnight and call it a day for the season it won't waste its time and it won't waste your time trying to keep it alive when it's not supposed to be growing it does fine in Tropic climates and fares well next to major bodies of water where there is more groundwater it just can't tolerate water logged clay soils that's pushing it a little too far yes you can push it farther than almost any other field crop as far as climate goes but at the end of the day it'll perform best when it's left to the dry heat that makes other crops drop and falter it's the ideal crop to experiment with because it's just so much more forgiving it's not often that you hear of any plant sort that can go from the Namib Desert to the Russian Fields then to Tropical India and even the hugely varied climate of China seriously just because it's technically a drought crop doesn't mean there's no room to to play with it actually there's no other grain that will allow you to have as much room for experimentation that Pearl Millet will everyone who wants a multi-purpose crop that can feed people as well as livestock and for it to do so with virtually no care from you well you should have given Pearl Millet a try a long time ago for those of you who grew up being sustained on Pearl Millet and those who have it in the field right now tell us about it how does it perform for you or are you looking to add it to your fields in the near future and like always leave a comment a like and don't forget to subscribe this channel would be nothing without our viewers input it's you who makes it possible for us to keep bringing you the latest news in the regenerative farming space see you next week cheers