Also, it will save the country billions of dollars that would have been spent on importation of barley malt and concentrates as the money will be retained in the economy and would help propel growth and development, even as it will drive down the cost of production for brewery firm.
“The brewery industry is buying so much from sorghum farmers now than before,” Adamu Bature, secretary, Sorghum, Millet Farmers Association of Nigeria told BusinessDay in a telephone response to questions.
“Brewers make use of 70 percent sorghum as by-product for brewing beer and malt. Nigeria Breweries fayrouz brand is 100 percent sorghum,” Bature said.
According to him, the high demand from brewers shows that the crop has a huge industrial potential.
Sorghum is also used in the food and beverage industry for producing biscuits and noodles.
It is grown in all the northern states in the country including Kogi and Kwara states.
Experts say that entrepreneurs can tap into the production of sorghum to meet the growing demand from industries as they attempt to source locally.
Nigeria is the natural habitat for many varieties of sorghum and the world’s second-largest producer and supplier of the crop, churning out 11 million metric tons per annum while demand is put at 12.5 million MT, leaving a gap of 1.5 million MT, according to data obtained from the Federal Ministry Agriculture.
“Nigeria Breweries funded sorghum research at the institute and developed a sorghum variety with high malting properties which can be used in place of barley as a by-product for brewing beer and malt,” said Ibrahim Umar Abubakar, director, Institute for Agricultural Research, IAR Zaria.
“This will ensure that farmers have access to improved hybrid sorghum seeds, thereby increasing their yields per hectare,” Abubakar said.
He noted that most brewers in the country are increasing their local sourcing for sorghum.
According to the institute, two varieties of sorghum with malting properties have been released.
“The CSR03H and CSR04H are the two varieties we developed with high malting properties and have been released officially,” said Daniel Aba a sorghum breeder at the Institute for Agricultural Research, Zaria.
Sorghum is a grass of east African origin. It is the 4th most important cereal after wheat, rice, and maize and is used as a maize substitute for livestock feeds because of their similar nutritional values.
“The stalk from sorghum can be used as livestock feeds while the grains are used for poultry feeds production. It has high protein content than maize,” said Aba.
Like shea nuts, sorghum has the potential to be a huge export earner for the country, but years of low investment, lack of government support and natural vagaries has limited the huge potentials.
The inability of Africa’s biggest economy to sustain and improve its production of sorghum over the years has resulted in an average yield of 0.500 ton per hectare when other leading countries produce between 4.5 to 6 tons per hectare of improved variety.
Liman Mohammed, a sorghum farmer in Borno said “I have three brewery firms I sell to immediately after harvest. The demand is getting higher.”
Most brewery firms in the country are now supplying free inputs such as improved seed varieties to farmers and also giving them technical support in the production of the crop.
Currently, a metric ton of sorghum sells for N900,000 at farmgate price while 100kg bag sells for N9,000.
According to Danjuma Bunshak, a farmer, sorghum, grows all year round but mostly in December through January.
“There are various varieties of the crop. Some take 90days to grow, while some 45 days,” he said.
Bunshak who is also a member of the National Association of Sorghum Producers, Processors and Marketers of Nigeria said that the association has been approached by the Chinese government to start supplying their market.
Josephine Okojie
