The millets, a group of thousands of varieties of grass-like annual plants that bear small to miniscule-sized seeds belong to the Gramineae family of plants.Food anthropologists believe that millet was the first cereal plant domesticated by man. Today millet is considered the 6th most important grain crop in the world.

The most common varieties of millet include pearl, proso, foxtail, finger and teff (Ethiopian millet). Millet has been a major source of protein and energy for millions of people in Asia, Africa and India for thousands of years.