Moving beyond subsistence - Novel products from sorghum and their commercialization
Moving beyond subsistence:
Novel products from sorghum and their commercialization
Introduction
Sorghum is traditionally an important food crop both in Africa and Asia and an
important feed crop in the rest of the world. It is one of the cheapest sources of energy,
protein, iron and zinc. Of late, sweet sorghum is becoming popular as feedstock for
ethanol production.
In the last two decades, the utilization of sorghum for alternative uses has been
increasing and the challenge is to link the producers with the emerging demand
centers for the crop.
Commercialization is often the key to technology adoption and poverty alleviation. New
cultivars, with novel traits of commercial importance are being bred and released for
specialized uses.
Characteristics of sorghum and cultivar development
ICRISAT and NARS (both public and private sectors) partners are taking advantage of the varied uses of sorghum to add commercial
value to the crop. The approach builds on the inherent genetic advantages of the crop –self fertilizing breeding system; availability of
genetic male sterility and CMS-based hybrid technology; high biomass producing ability being C4
species; wide adaptability and drought
tolerance - comparatively low water and fertilizer requirement, and yet, responsive to water and fertilizer.
Over the years, 220 sorghum cultivars were released by partners in 44 countries using ICRISAT-bred sorghum germplasm. ICRISAT
and other countries.
Cultivars’ commercialization issues
ICRISAT and partners are helping the drive towards commercialization, which has many aspects:
Developing high-yielding hybrid parents and open-pollinated varieties that meet market standards
Identifying markets and linking farmers with traders and bulk buyers
Identifying novel traits for value addition and for export potential (eg, sorghum starch)
Developing new sorghum-based products and addressing the issues in their value chain
Dissemination of products and information through public-private partnerships
Policy briefs and institutional reforms to encourage markets and commercialization.
Food products
remains largely untapped. One exception is Kenya, where ready-made sorghum
ICRISAT is working to replicate the Kenyan success – modern processing
techniques, attractive packaging and market promotions – in West Africa.
ICRISAT in partnership with NARS is also exploring commercialization of old and
such as injera (popular food in Ethiopia) and kisra (popular food in Sudan).
Sorghum-based snacks, bakery products and sweets recipes are standardized
and the Directorate of Sorghum Research in India is closely working with ITC India Ltd to
popularize sorghum based products.
diet-bread. The juice is used in the processing of vinegar, “wine” and syrup. Some high-end
hotels have started serving rotis
cities in India.
Other opportunities – convenience foods and drinks, weaning foods, snacks such as pop
sorghum, and instant beer powder are being explored in Africa in partnership with national
programs.
Poultry feed
alternative sources of feed is apparent, for example, in India, where the poultry industry was growing at more than 7
innovative coalition of partners in India, China and Thailand.
Ethanol for energy
Sweet sorghum is a SMART crop that can be used for food, feed and fuel.
In India, two distilleries, Rusni Distilleries (40 KLPD) in Andhra Pradesh and Tata
Chemicals Limited (TCL, 30 KLPD) in Maharashtra use sweet sorghum as major
feedstock for ethanol production.
ICRISAT and partners are implementing a NAIP (ICAR)-funded project on sweet
sorghum ethanol value chain development wherein a decentralized crushing-
cum-syrup making unit (DCU) was established in Ibrahimbad village in Medak
district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The syrup can be used for ethanol production
and in food preparation. It is stackable up to 10 months.
Alternative uses
Rainy season sorghum grain is used for mushroom production in Thailand.
Glumes of the red sorghum is used for extracting dye in China.
Sorghum is used for traditional opaque beer. New technologies in Nigeria
enable its use in clear lager beer and dark stout. Several breweries use
sorghum malt on a commercial scale. Also used for nonalcoholic malt drinks
Chemical analyses indicates that sorghum starch is comparable or better than
maize.
Grades and standards
Grades and standards for determining quality (and price) are an essential
developing appropriate standards for sorghum and millet. In 2001, under a
USAID-funded project, developed a set of grain quality standards for sorghum
that were inexpensive and easy to implement.
Areas for further research
even more opportunities for commercial sorghum products.
Researchers at Texas A&M University, USA, are working to develop antioxidant-
human health being antioxidants).
Many sorghum landraces found in Nigeria and Sudan are said to contain high
HarvestPlus is funding the research to produce high yielding sorghums with grain high in Fe and Zn content for addressing dietary
A bright future
Fifteen years ago, the sorghum industry in Africa had essentially one product – opaque beer. Today, a range of sorghum products is
particular in India, national program efforts will soon translate into up-scaling of commercialization of various food products.
Further up-scaling of the use of mold affected rainy season grain in poultry feed manufacturing and establishing grades for the grain
and improving market channels will help to fetch better returns for the sorghum farmer and ethanol production from sweet sorghum
offers a new dimension to sorghum utilization.
Another important area that offers good potential is developing and marketing of commercial feed blocks made from bagasse and
Acknowledgments
of various sorghum scientists are thankfully acknowledged.
New sorghum cultivars developed.
Rusni Distilleries, India.
Alcoholic beverages from sorghum.
Ugali.
Injera. Kisra.
Food products from sorghum.
Poultry bird fed with sorghum feed.
Nov 2009