Tr ue tonio (Digitaria exilis (Kipp.) Stapf) and black fonio (D. iburua Stapf) are two domesticated minets of West Africa . These cereals are used as food and fodder as well as in brewing. They are persistent crops that do not require careful cultivation, and thrive under a rang e of difficult agricultural conditions. Fonla millets are amongst the least studied cereal crops , and there has been no study on the genetic diversity and evo lution of these two millets. Random Amplified Polymorphic

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... A (RAPD) approach was used in this study to assess the genetic diversity in tonio millets and to evaluate proposed hypotheses on their presumed wild progenitors. The results point to a very high genetic diversity in true fonio and to the possibi lity of multiple domestication orland strong ecological or agricultural differentiation. The genetic diversity in black tonio could not be assessed because of the availability 01 only one accession for the crop. The molecular data substantiate previous hypotheses that point 10 the morphologically allied species D. longiflora (Halz) Pers. and D. temata (A. Rich.) Stapf as possible progenitors of true and black tonios , respectively, and do not support the proposed genetic affinities between D. fuscescens (Presl) Henr. and true fonio. The study underscores the need for concerted eHort to collect and conserve genetic resources of 10nio millets and their wild progenitors since they are poorly represented in world gene banks.