Summary: This study conducts a bibliometric analysis to explore global research trends on the interconnections between food security and millets. Recognizing the urgent challenges to food security posed by climate change, population growth, and resource scarcity, this analysis emphasizes millets—a resilient, nutrient-rich, and environmentally adaptable grain—as a potential crop to enhance food security and sustainability. Given millets' advantages, such as low water requirements, adaptability to marginal soils, and high nutritional value, there is growing international interest in integrating them into sustainable food systems. The analysis focuses on research from 1993 to 2024, obtained from the SCOPUS database, examining primary search terms: "food security and millets." The study uses VOS viewer software to categorize keywords into thematic clusters, revealing research patterns across environmental, economic, and agricultural themes. Key findings demonstrate significant research gaps in millet-focused trade studies, despite the 2023 International Year of Millets, and underscore the need for further research to optimize millet production and trade strategies. By identifying gaps and potential areas for further investigation, this study offers insights for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders interested in leveraging millet’s benefits to enhance global food security and build resilient food systems amidst climate challenges. This bibliometric approach is a tool for future studies on sustainable crop trade, guiding research toward holistic food security solutions that integrate underutilized but highly promising crops like millets.
1. Introduction
Global food security has been a critical issue in the 21st century because of the increasing population, climate change, and finite natural resources, which have been challenging for the traditional agricultural system. As the nations collectively work towards taking action to achieve United
Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 2, targeting Zero Hunger globally,
adaptable, resilient, and nutritional crops have become the need of the hour. Millets, A group of small seed cereals, possess
high nutritional value and are climate-resilient. Therefore, these crops can
play an essential role in attaining SDG 2. (Antony Ceasar and Maharajan,2022).
The most popular
types consumed are pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), finger millet (Eleusine
coracana), and foxtail millet (Setaria italica). The unique
properties of millets that make it valuable for global food systems that are facing
growing risks of resources is that it is not a water-intensive crop like the
staple crops (wheat and rice) (Ajatasatru, A., Prabhu, V., Pal, B.D. et al.,2024). With their
ability to thrive in poor soils and under minimal water conditions, millets are
well-suited to meet the dual challenges of climate resilience and food security. (Traore, B. et al,2021.).
The growing recognition of millets' role in
food security has also spurred international collaborations to improve their
cultivation and distribution. Trade partnerships and initiatives, such as the
UN’s designation of 2023 as the International Year of Millets, highlight the
importance of millets globally and promote research investments to
enhance yield, quality, and distribution channels. These collaborations help
standardize millet production and quality, making them more accessible to
international markets and attractive to consumers. Furthermore, Millets are essential in enhancing global food security through international trade by
diversifying food systems, boosting nutrition, and offering a sustainable and
resilient crop alternative. (Hatem Chouchane, Maarten S. Krol, Arjen Y. Hoekstra,2018)Expanding
millet trade benefits producing regions economically while providing a
sustainable solution to global food challenges, fostering healthier diets, and
building resilience against food insecurity.
This paper
attempts to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the research work undertaken globally on ‘food security. This paper analyzes the scientific literature on the topic and understands the pattern of publication over the years in terms of keyword analysis of themes pursued over the years. Also, this
paper studies the frequently used keywords on the topic and analyzes them
through cluster analysis using the software Vosviewer. Overall, this
bibliometric analysis can be used as a tool for future researchers to find future research potential through gaps in the current study. It will benefit
the researchers in studying the potential of millets to contribute to global
food security. Further, by investigating the role of millets in a sustainable,
secure, and nutritious food system, this research contributes to the growing
discourse on how underutilized crops can play a transformative role in
addressing food security in an era of climate uncertainty.
2. Research
Methodology
To conduct the bibliometric analysis, the study was conducted over the food security research work conducted globally from the year the first article was published to 2024. Through the SCOPUS database, an initial search was carried out with different keywords: “food security” AND “millets”. To refine the results, only “Articles” limited to the “English” language and “all open access” were selected. This search resulted in extracting the dataset of 181 documents downloaded in .csv format to further analyze the results. The VOSviewer (bibliometric mapping software) was used to conduct the bibliometric analysis and has also been a widely used and accepted software in conducting bibliometric analysis tools.
3. RESULT
AND FINDINGS
FOOD
SECURITY AND MILLETS
This section analyzes the extracted data on “food security” AND “millet” in graphs and tables derived from the VOS viewer. The research and development of millets in food security was extracted through the process explained in Figure 1 above. In 1999, the first paper on the topic was published by Apili Ejupu, E.C., Makhura M.T., and Kirsten J.F., titled “Food security in a commercializing rural economy. During the extraction process, the
first research work was published in 1999, the only document
published in the year , and the latest was published in 2024.
|
Time Period |
Total Articles |
Keywords |
No. of Citations |
|
1999-2024 |
216 |
100 |
5,336 |
KEYWORD CO-OCCURRENCE ANALYSIS
The
keyword analysis was conducted by uploading the data extracted from SCOPUS to
Vosviewer. After selecting the Co-occurrence of all the keywords, 1932 keywords
were derived from the uploaded documents. To make the results more relevant and refined, the threshold limit of occurrence of each keyword was set to 5, after which only 100 keywords made it to the final list. The following analysis was
done on the refined keywords represented in Figure 1.
 |
Figure 1: Keyword Co-occurrence of food security and millet. |
 |
Table 1: Keyword Occurrence of Food Security and Millet
The
green cluster has a strong biological and genetic research orientation, with
terms related to plant genetics, genomics, and breeding. Keywords such as
"genome," "genotype," "genome-wide association
study," and "gene expression" point to molecular and genetic
studies, which are essential for developing resilient crop varieties. Terms
like "drought stress" and "finger millet" suggest that this
research explores how crops can withstand environmental stresses. Locations
such as India and Nepal hint at regions where this genetic research might be
applied. The focus of this cluster is on understanding and enhancing genetic
variability and plant resilience, with the ultimate goal of developing
climate-resilient crops through genetic advancements.
The blue
cluster is heavily centred on food and nutritional security as well as
sustainable agriculture. Keywords such as "agriculture,"
"crop," "millet," "food grain," and
"malnutrition" suggest a focus on crop production and the role of
diverse crops in meeting nutritional needs. This cluster also emphasizes
specific crops like maize, millet, sorghum, and soybean—important staples in
many regions. Terms like "sustainability" and "sustainable
agriculture" reflect a broader interest in promoting agricultural
practices that are environmentally sound and can ensure long-term food
security. The presence of "nutrients," "seasonal
variation," and "water supply" highlights the research’s
attention to the resource-efficient and nutritional aspects of crop production.
Together,
these clusters illustrate a comprehensive approach to global food security that
integrates adaptive management, genetic innovation, and sustainable
agricultural practices. This interconnected research can help build resilient
food systems that address the dual challenges of climate change and nutrition
security.
TREND OVER THE YEARS
Over the years, the keywords used for the study of food security and millets have varied. In the initial year of 2018, more attention was given to rice as it was the food of choice, malnutrition, smallholder, genetic variability, Sahel, Mali, etc., as shown in Figure 2.
 |
Figure 2: Research trends over the years on food security and millet
In further years, the area of research changed towards maize, crop production, fertilizers, cultivation, crops, and nutrients. In recent years, the focus of the study has shifted towards climate effects, forecasting, pearl millet, finger millet, China, Africa, India, and agricultural ecosystems. This depicts a shift in focus from the issues that were more relevant in the past, such as smallholder and genetic variability, towards issues that are more prominent in recent scenarios, such as climate effect and millets.
CONCLUSION
The
outlook for millets in international trade is promising, given the global
emphasis on sustainable agriculture. Millets align with the UN Sustainable
Development Goals, particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate
Action), by offering a resilient crop option in water-scarce regions. Increased
government and NGO support for millet production and processing in developing countries will likely drive growth. Additionally, initiatives focusing on
improved storage, processing, and export infrastructure are expected to bolster
the export potential for millet-based products.
However, no significant research has been done in this area to improve the
performance of millets in international trade. Upon accessing the SCOPUS
database, we find no research papers on the importance of
millets in ensuring food security through international trade. International
trade is critical in ensuring global food security by facilitating
the movement of food and agricultural products across borders and addressing
disparities in production capacity, climate, and resources among countries. For
nations with limited agrarian output due to climatic constraints, arable
land shortages, or seasonal variations, trade enables access to food resources
that would otherwise be unavailable, ensuring a stable supply for their
populations.
The clusters collectively depict a
comprehensive view of global food security and agriculture, intersecting with
economic, environmental, and social factors. In
conclusion, this study highlights a critical research gap in millets, international trade, and sustainable food. By analyzing datasets from
SCOPUS, we identified strong links between food security. Security, agricultural trade, and sustainable
development, as well as between food security, millets, and climate change.
Despite the recent global focus on millets, including the 2023 International
Year of Millets, the literature on the role of international trade in promoting
millet-based food security remains limited. Given their resilience to water
scarcity and suitability for arid regions, millets hold significant
agricultural trade potential for countries with limited water resources. Future research should, therefore, explore trade models that leverage millets to enhance food security and support sustainable development goals. Addressing this gap
could contribute to resilient food systems worldwide, particularly in regions
vulnerable to climate change and resource constraints.
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Palak Rawat
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