The shift to environmental and health consciousness has caused people to move away from rice and wheat and towards millet, a much more environmentally friendly whole wheat grain. Although it was a staple diet in many parts of the world, they were largely replaced throughout the years, until now. There is an interesting article about the origin of millet. The good news is this wonderful grain has made a comeback in recent years, with its numerous health benefits being a main reason. Another reason less talked about, however, is how the shift to millets will help the climate.
What make millets climate friendly?
Millets are rain fed crops and don’t require standing water in their fields, meaning there is no need for big dams or reservoirs to get water to the farms. It requires only 1/20th amount of water to grow when compared to rice and ½ the amount of water when compared to quinoa.
Millets don’t need any sort of fertility enhancement or pesticides to yield a good harvest. It is also drought resistant. The environmental footprint of millets is therefore just a tiny fraction of paddy or wheat.
Millets are more efficient in using solar energy and absorb carbon from the atmosphere, while the rice crop releases greenhouse gases. Thus, millets are a better choice than rice in the fight against climate change.
What’s happening with climate change?
With an increasingly urgent need to solve the climate crisis and its accompanying environmental stressors, there is a heightened need for crop diversification by promoting crops suitable for cultivation in the toughest of environments. To adapt to these conditions, environmentally friendly and sustainable grains such as millets are a highly recommended choice.
The UN resolution considers the “urgent need to raise awareness of the climate-resilient and nutritional benefits of millets and to advocate for diversified, balanced and healthy diets through the increased sustainable production and consumption of millets.” The UN thus plans on declaring 2023 as the “year of millets”, with the foresight that these grains are the solution to a better kept environment.
Why should I eat less rice?
A white paper prepared by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) found that that rice produces 12% of anthropogenic methane and that the methane produced by rice farming makes up about half of crop-related greenhouse gas emissions. These are very telling statistics, as they suggest that a vast amount of greenhouse gas emission can be reduced just from less rice consumption.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates around 770 million tonnes of rice were produced in 2018, with China and India responsible for approximately half of that amount. The predominant method for growing the crop is to flood paddy fields, which is not an environmentally friendly method.
In order to decrease our environmental footprint, we should aim to move to millets and away from rice, keeping in mind their more climate friendly properties.
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