Sorghum

Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world and is used for food, fodder and production of alcoholic beverages. Being drought and heat tolerant (more than corn, soybeans and wheat), it is especially important in arid regions of the world. Overall it is an important food crop in Africa, Central America and South Asia.

FAO reported the United States of America was the top producer of sorghum in 2009, with a harvest of 9.7 million tonnes. The next four major producers of sorghum, in decreasing quantities, were India, Nigeria, Sudan (~4.7MT) and Ethiopia. The average annual yield in 2010 across the world was reported as 1.37 Tonnes/Ha, with the highest yields recorded in Jordan (12.7 T/Ha). In the USA this figure was 4.5 T/Ha.

Sorghum is the staple food for most people living in the Sudan, except for the northern areas (Nahr al-Nil and Northern states) where wheat is more common.

Taxonomy

Family: Poaceae

Occurrence & Agricultural Importance in this Country

Cultivation Areas
Sorghum is the largest crop (ranked by area) in Sudan with about 6.5 million Ha grown in 2009 (FAO). Most of it is rain-fed.

Geographical distribution: Gadarif State (eastern Sudan) is the most important region for sorghum production where about 5-6 million feddans are cultivated on an annual basis linked mainly to large scale farming where agricultural machinery is used.

Main Varieties
The dominant varieties grown are the traditional Feterita types e.g. Arfa Gadmek, Abdalla Mustafa and Korolo. Tetron and Dabar are grown on a limited scale. Some progressive farmers in south Gadarif grow the improved varieties, Wad Ahmed and Tabat.

Marketing Information and Uses

Sorghum the most important food source in Sudan. Around 70% of food needs are covered from this crop.

Use
Food, feed, fodder.

Markets
Sudan was exporting some quantities of sorghum in the 80’s and 90’s but reached almost zero levels in 2000. At the same time Sudan started to import 300 to 400 thousand Tonnes per year to cover its needs.

Crop Management(Cultivation conditions and methods)

Temperatures
Sorghum cannot be planted until soil temperatures have reached 17°C and requires an average temperature of at least 25°C to produce maximum grain yields and maximum photosynthesis potential is achieved at daytime temperatures of around 30°C. Night time temperatures below 13°C for more than a few days can severely affect potential grain production.

Water Requirements
Sorghum is drought tolerant and is able to grow economically in low rainfall areas, below 450 mm. However, in order to achieve high yields 100mm rainfall equivalent irrigation water should be applied per month if sufficient rainfall does not occur.

Nutrition Requirements
Soil should be subject to soil analysis for nutrient availability. Organic manure and nitrogen fertilisers are the two main sources of plant nutrition when sufficient water is available through rainfall or irrigation.

Harvesting Period
Most of sorghum Varieties planted in Sudan require around 105 days from planting until harvesting.

Harvesting Methods
Most of the crop is manually harvested and left in open air to dry until grain moisture content is below 10%.

Planting Period
Usually sowing takes place from mid-June until mid-July. Timing is very important for achieving yield potential as the growing season is long (usually 90–120 days) and late sown crops suffer loss of production. Seed rate is typically 3 Kg/Feddan which is enough to produce 42000–52000 plants per Feddan. In rain-fed areas this rate can be increased to 3.5Kg per Feddan to compensate for the less favourable conditions.

Sorghum

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