A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

THE

GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY

OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

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Research

Sorghum is one of the crops researched by the ARC’s Grain Crops Institute in

Potchefstroom. Research projects on sorghum were initially funded jointly by the

government and external sources like the Sorghum Trust. However, over time the

funding of research projects became increasingly problematic as the government

started to scale down its contributions for this purpose and it became more

difficult to generate funds for research from the sorghum industry itself.

The Sorghum Trust makes contributions for research to institutions like the ARC,

Grain SA, universities and non-governmental organisations. The Sorghum Forum

annually invites all relevant research institutions to submit research proposals

to the forum. The forum’s research project committee assesses and prioritises

the proposed projects according to norms and criteria established by the forum.

Researchers are offered an opportunity to explain the proposed projects, after

which the committee submits its recommendations to the forum.

Projects approved by the forum are then submitted to the Sorghum Trust for the al-

location of funding. The trust considers the applications in terms of the trust deed

and the applicable regulations, as well as the availability of funds. If insufficient

funds are available for financing all the approved projects, the projects are funded

in order of priority up to the amount of funds available.

Biofuel

The possible manufacture of renewable fuel like bio-ethanol has been on the table

for quite some time, and can hold major benefits for the sorghum industry. Sor-

ghum is the only grain crop in South Africa that is available for the manufacturing

of bio-ethanol, as maize is regarded as a staple food in South Africa and may not

be used for this purpose. Sweet sorghum is particularly suitable for manufacturing

bio-ethanol because of its high sugar content.

Initially it was thought that the use of grain for manufacturing biofuel would be able to

stabilise the grain industry, promote the admission of new participants to the industry

and stimulate rural development. It could perhaps in the long term also provide a solu-

tion to problems with surplus production and create a market for increased production

of grains like maize, sorghum and oilseeds.

However, a number of issues had to be addressed before large-scale production of

biofuel from those grains could continue, namely:

• The impact on food security and prices;

• The acceptability of by-products for the feed industry; and

• Government involvement and legislation.

Sorghum is a key crop in helping to establish the bio-ethanol industry in South

Africa, particularly in drier western areas where the cultivation of sugar cane

is not possible. This will support considerable expansion in local sorghum

production and significantly increase the importance of sorghum in the South

African economy.

On 30 September 2013 a notice was published in the Government Gazette that bio-

fuel had to make up at least 5% in volume of diesel and 2% to 10% of petrol from

1 October 2015.

According to Grain SA this would mean that about 620 000 tons of additional sor-

ghum per year would have to be produced in South Africa to achieve those targets,

which would require new varieties that can produce higher yields to be developed

– all factors that would benefit the sorghum industry greatly.

Despite extensive inputs by Grain SA on the viability and the possible benefits

of this for the sorghum industry, the industry was, at the beginning of 2016, still

waiting for the government to announce the final regulatory environment for

finalising the biofuel industry.