Short answers, pulled from the story.
Humans have consumed millet for approximately 7,000 years. Archaeological evidence from Cishan in China places proso millet cultivation at 10,300-8,700 years ago, with foxtail millet at around 8,700 years ago at the same site.
India is the top millet producer worldwide, growing 11.8 million tonnes annually, which represents approximately 38% of global production. Global millet production totaled 30.9 million tonnes in 2022.
Pearl millet was first domesticated in the Sahel region of West Africa, from the wild ancestor Pennisetum violaceum. Isozyme studies suggest domestication occurred northeast of the Senegal River, tentatively around 6000 BC.
Millet is naturally gluten-free and can replace gluten-containing cereals for people with coeliac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or wheat allergy. A residual risk of contamination with gluten-containing cereals remains.
Okashana 1 is a pearl millet variety developed in India from a naturally growing millet found in Burkina Faso. Released in Namibia in 1990, it doubled yields, became the most popular variety there, and has since enhanced yields in Mauritania and Benin.
The main cultivated millet species include pearl millet, finger millet, proso millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet, little millet, browntop millet, and foxtail millet. These species belong to different tribes and subfamilies within the grass family Poaceae.