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An incredible cereal
and proudly African
S
orghum, an ancient cereal grain that is a staple crop in India
and throughout Africa, originated in Africa and can there-
fore be considered a proudly African cereal. During April
this year, the first international sorghum conference of the
21st century was hosted in Cape Town.
The broad spectrum of topics covered during the five-day confer-
ence confirmed the important contribution of sorghum to food
security worldwide. As part of the event, several symposia were
presented with titles such as ‘Productivity and food security for the
smallholder farmer’, ‘A driver for change: Sorghum’s role in global
markets’ and ‘Bringing ancient grains to the world’s dinner tables’.
One of the plenary speakers at the conference, Prof John Taylor
from the University of Pretoria, presented a discussion titled ‘Can
sorghum meet the bread needs of the 21st century consumers?’
Wide range of uses and very nutritional
Sorghum has a wide range of uses, which include human food,
animal feed, the production of alcoholic beverages and biofuels.
Nutritionists categorise sorghum as a healthy cereal as part of a
balanced diet, as it is rich in essential nutrients that are significant
in the body.
Given its nutritional and increasing commercial value, many re-
gions around the world are involved in the large-scale production of
this crop. Sorghum is tasty and gluten free, but often gets over
looked in South Africa as it is still psychologically associated with
poverty. Sorghum contains a wide variety of beneficial phytochemi-
cals, such as tannin, that act as antioxidants in the body.
Sorghum is a good source for dietary fibre. It is safe to eat for those
with Celiac disease.
The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
published a study that analysed the genome of sorghum to deter-
mine if it contained any gluten proteins. They confirmed that gluten
is absent in all varieties of sorghum. Sorghum flour is becoming a
popular gluten-free substitute for wheat flour in baked goods.
Sorghum – important for Africa
Nigeria ranks as the top sorghum producing country in Africa, and
the second largest in the world. The estimated average production
of sorghum in Nigeria in 2018 is 6,8 million metric tons, compared
to the 8,7 million metric tons produced by the United States, ranked
first in the world. Sorghum in Nigeria is mostly grown for food, while
other minor uses include livestock food and industrial raw material
for production of malt and beer.
In South Africa, we need to be aware of global trends and oppor-
tunities to increase demand and reduce supply bottlenecks of sor-
ghum. According to the latest production forecast released by the
Crop Estimates Committee in June this year, the expected sorghum
production for 2018 is 83 070 tons. Sorghum’s nutritional and health-
promoting attributes should be better understood and promoted.
Quality analyses
The focus of sorghum cultivar selection in South Africa has tradition-
ally been on malting quality, but with the steady growth in sorghum
for human food, the Sorghum Trust tasked the Southern African
Grain Laboratory (SAGL) to develop a series of quality tests to annu-
ally evaluate different grain sorghum cultivars with the focus on food
processing requirements for human and animal nutrition.
Wiana Louw,
general manager, Southern African Grain Laboratory
Augustus 2018
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1: Laboratory grain pearler used to decorticate sorghum.
2: Examples of sorghum cultivars A, B and C before and after decortication.
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