article · Frontiers in Nutrition
Finger millet is an indigenous African cereal with significant nutritional value and climate resilience. It contains essential minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc, alongside dietary fibre and antioxidant phytochemicals. Its ability to tolerate drought and grow in marginal environments makes it a valuable asset for climate-resilient agriculture. The grain is already used in traditional diets, infant weaning foods, fermented drinks, animal feed, and processed items such as flours, baked goods, and noodles. However, widespread adoption is limited by low crop yields compared to major cereals, heavy labour demands during harvesting and post-harvest handling, pest and weed pressures, limited mechanisation, and weak market links. Expanding its role in functional foods and sustainable nutrition requires research investment, improved crop breeding, and better processing technologies.
Climate stress and poor nutrition threaten food security in many regions. Finger millet offers a resilient alternative to major staple grains due to its tolerance to drought and dense micronutrient profile. Understanding its qualities helps agricultural development bodies and nutrition programmes prioritise indigenous crops that can diversify diets and endure challenging environmental conditions.
The grain has immediate relevance for food processors, bakeries, and feed manufacturers seeking raw materials for weaning foods, baked goods, noodles, and animal feed. While product concepts are already applied and tested, large-scale commercialisation remains limited by supply constraints, weak market integration, and labour-intensive post-harvest processing that require dedicated investment in mechanisation and breeding.
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Introduction: ), an indigenous African cereal, has attracted increasing attention because of its exceptional nutritional composition, climate resilience, and potential for functional food development. This review evaluated the role of finger millet in promoting sustainable nutrition, health, and food security. Methods: A semi-systematic narrative review was conducted following Snyder's review framework and guided by PRISMA principles for literature identification and screening. Literature published between March 2025 and April 2026 was retrieved from Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, JSTOR, and ResearchGate using predefined search terms related to finger millet, indigenous grains, nutrition, food security, and functional foods amongst others. An initial 245 articles were identified; after removing 86 duplicates and excluding 12 studies during screening, 147 peer-reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria and were qualitatively synthesised. Results: The reviewed evidence demonstrates that finger millet is rich in calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, dietary fibre, and bioactive phytochemicals with antioxidant properties. The crop exhibits excellent drought tolerance and adapts well to marginal environments, making it suitable for climate-resilient agriculture. Finger millet is widely utilised in traditional foods, weaning products, fermented beverages, livestock feed, and value-added products including flour, bakery products, and noodles. However, its wider adoption is constrained by labour-intensive production and post-harvest processing, lower yields than major cereals, pest and weed infestations, limited mechanisation, weak market integration, and inadequate research investment. Discussion: Finger millet represents a promising underutilised indigenous grain for functional food development, sustainable nutrition, and climate-resilient food systems. Addressing production constraints through improved breeding, mechanisation, research investment, and value-chain development could substantially enhance its contribution to dietary diversification, improved public health, and sustainable food and nutrition security.
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DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2026.1893035
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