Sorghum farmers to benefit from rising demand

About 12,000 tonnes have a guaranteed market in the 2013/14 Financial Year.

Sorghum may only be known as a security food item with less commercial opportunities. However, increasing demand from beer firms has seen a change in the crop’s fortune thus improving farmers’ income.

The demand for the crop will receive a boost from Nile Breweries Limited, which has earmarked Shs13 billion to buy the commodity from farmers during this harvest year. Mr George Mbogo, the NBL local sourcing manager, told Prosper the company plans to increase sorghum purchase to Shs16 billion in the next three years.

Thus, he said: “Farmers in the sorghum growing regions should be able to provide supplies for the commodity now that we have the money to purchase it in bulk.” He added the demand for sorghum by NBL continues to grow with a supply requirement of 12,000 tonnes per annum. However, the company continues to face challenges of low supplies as few farmers have taken up the farming of the crop as a commercial activity.

The firm also expects its demand of the commodity to grow to more 15,000 tonnes in the next three years, according to Mr Mbogo. The crop’s growth is affected by low yields due to poor agronomic practices and also diversion of the grain to other traders who are not involved in seed distribution.
According Dr Okasai Opolot, the ministry of Agriculture-director crop protection and market, the government has no deliberate intervention to promote the crop. “Sorghum is not on our priority list, it remains a private sector driven crop for development and that’s when the government can begin to provide technical assistance,” he said.

Traditionally, sorghum is mainly grown in the Teso sub region including Teso, Lango and Mid-western.
NBL through its deliberate plan to create sustainable supply is providing assistance to farmers through the provision of extension services, investing in research and good quality seed
Technical training and use of small scale machinery is the other area the company looks at to help farmers.

Challenges, use and global production

Challenges
The growth of sorghum in Uganda is affected by low yields due to poor agronomic practices. According Dr Okasai Opolot, the ministry of Agriculture-director crop protection and market, the government has no deliberate intervention to promote the crop. “Sorghum is not on our priority list, it remains a private sector driven crop for development and that’s when the government can begin to provide technical assistance,” he said. However, NBL through its deliberate plans to create sustainable supply is providing assistance to farmers through the provision of extension services, investing in research and good quality seedling. Through this NBL believes the crop’s production can be uplifted with the sensitisation of farmers being a priority.

Usage
Apart from using sorghum for food security, the commodity is a very big source of raw material in the production of beer. In Uganda NBL has been using it in the production of its brands including Eagle Lager, Eagle Lager Extra, Eagle Lager Dark and Chibuku among others.

dnakaweesi@ug.nationmedia.com