Sweet sorghum is a hardy, nutritious, biofuel crop that offers solutions in drought-hit southern Africa
- May 24, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Sweet sorghum is a hardy, nutritious, biofuel crop that offers solutions in drought-hit southern Africa
Sub: Geography
Sec: Eco geography
Tag: Sweet sorghum
The southern African region is battling with drought at present.
- Drought Cause: Result of El Nino, affecting global weather patterns.
- Impact: Severe drought in southern Africa, hitting agricultural productivity hard.
- Affected Countries: Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have declared a state of disaster and are seeking food aid.
- Economic Implications: Over 70% of rural populations in the region rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.
Agricultural Sector’s Response to Climate Change
- Need for Adaptation: Importance of preparing for and mitigating climate impacts in agriculture.
- Biofuel Crops: Cultivation of biofuel crops as a measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Biofuel Crops
- Conventional Crops: Sugarcane, maize, grain sorghum, sugar beet, rapeseed, and sunflower.
- Drawbacks: Susceptibility to extreme weather, high investment costs, competition with food production.
Sweet Sorghum:
- Origin: Most likely Ethiopia region.
- Sweet sorghum or sorgo is any of the many varieties of sorghum grass whose stalks have a high sugar content.
- It thrives better under drier and warmer conditions than many other crops and is grown primarily for forage, silage, and syrup production.
- Sweet sorghum syrup is known as sorghum molasses in some regions of the United States.
Potential of Sweet Sorghum:
- Multipurpose Use: Provides grains, animal feed, and sugary juice.
- Nutritional Value: Comparable to maize, rich in energy, proteins, carbohydrates, fibre, and essential minerals such as potassium, calcium, sodium and iron.
- It has good antioxidant properties.
- Bioethanol Production: High yield of 8,102 litres per hectare, significantly more than maize.
- Resilience: Drought resistance, can go dormant and resume growth post-drought, uses stalk juice during water scarcity.
- Other Uses:
- Animal Feed: High nutritional residue post-harvest.
- Ethanol Production: Contains sucrose, glucose, and fructose for bioethanol.
Recommendations for Investment and Awareness
- Underutilized Crop: Despite its potential, sweet sorghum is not widely cultivated or researched in Africa.
- Government Role: Use agriculture extension services to promote awareness and benefits of sweet sorghum.
- Research and Development: Invest in developing recipes and industrial products to enhance the feasibility of sweet sorghum farming.
- Global Examples: Successfully cultivated in the US, Brazil, and China.
Source: DTE