Kodo Millet

Kodo millet is a tufted annual grass reaching about one metre in height, with seed heads made of several finger-like spikes that carry two rows of small, rounded spikelets. The grain is about 1.5 to 2 mm across, enclosed in a tough, brownish husk that must be removed before eating. Hulled grain is pale to reddish-brown, with a mild, slightly earthy and nutty flavour. It cooks into a fluffy, rice-like dish or a soft porridge, and is also milled into flour. Kodo millet grows in marginal land with little rainfall and stores well, which makes it a dependable grain for smallholders in dry parts of India.

Kodo millet is native to tropical Africa, but it was domesticated in India, probably several thousand years ago, and it remains most associated with the Indian subcontinent. It is grown in the Deccan plateau, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, as well as in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. The name kodo derives from Hindi forms such as kodra, and varagu is the Tamil name. Related wild forms are widespread, and the species is also a weed in rice paddies and ditches in many warm regions.

Archaeobotanical finds point to kodo millet being cultivated in India for around three thousand years or more, and it appears in the story of the early farming communities in the peninsula alongside other minor millets. For centuries it was a food of tribal groups and poor farmers in dry regions, who relied on its resilience. It was often grown as a mixed crop with pulses or other millets, and the grain stored well for years, which made it valuable for famine insurance. In the twentieth century, the green revolution shifted attention and subsidies to rice and wheat, and kodo millet declined as a staple, becoming labelled a poor person's food. In recent decades, however, nutritionists and agricultural agencies in India have promoted millets as climate-resilient and nutritious, rebranding them as nutri-cereals, and the United Nations declared 2023 the International Year of Millets. Kodo millet has benefited from this renewed interest, and urban markets now sell it in health-food shops and ready-to-cook products.

The hulled grain is boiled like rice and served with vegetables, lentils or curds, or made into porridges, khichdi, upma, dosa and idli batters. The flour is used in flatbreads and sweet or savoury snacks, often mixed with other flours. It is also fermented into a local beer in some regions. Straw is used as fodder, and the plant is grown on field margins as a low-maintenance crop. Millet-based products such as cookies and noodles are increasingly available.

Kodo millet is gluten-free and a source of fibre, B vitamins, iron and minerals, with a moderate glycaemic response compared with polished rice in small studies, and it has been promoted as suitable for diabetic diets, though the research is limited. The bran contains polyphenols, which are being studied for antioxidant activity. As with other whole grains, it is best used as part of a varied diet.