2023 The International Year of Millets

The text below has been adapted from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) website on the International Year of Millets.

2023 The International Year of Millets

With an ever-growing global population, the global food system faces many complex challenges, including hunger, malnutrition, limited natural resources and climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger has designated 2023 as the Year of the Millets. The goal of FAO is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With 195 members - 194 countries and the European Union, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.

According to the FAO, a solution to the above challenges is to boost affordable and sustainable crop production, as well as increased consumer access to varied diets. Because of their diversity, millets are affordable sources of nutrients for healthy diets that can be cultivated in various adverse climates and arid regions with minimal external inputs.

The Food and Agriculture Organization promotion of 2023 as the International Year of Millets is an opportunity to raise global awareness of the multiple benefits of millets, from nutrition and health to environmental sustainability and economic development. On their website they state the “everyone has a role to play - from governments and private sector companies to the general public, including chefs, home cooks and youth. We need to work together to unleash the potential of millets for human and planetary health and well-being.

For more information about the International Year of the Millets visit:

https://www.fao.org/millets-2023/about/en