Sorghum and pearl millet are SADC's second and third

most important cereal grains in terms of production area.

Farmers in southern Africa annually sow over 1.9 million

ha of sorghum and 0.9 million ha of pearl millet (Table 1).

This compares with an aggregate production area of 12

million ha of maize. The area sown to sorghum and pearl

millet in SADC has generally been increasing with the

growth of smallholder farming populations

Rohrbach, D D

ICRISAT Open Access Repository

Vol. 1, No. 1 (Dec 1999)Sorghum and Pearl Millet Production inSouthern AfricaD D Rohrbach (Principal Scientist (Economics),SADC/ICRISAT Sorghum and Millet ImprovementProgram, Matopos Reseach Station, PO Box 776Bulawayo, Zimbawe)Sorghum and pearl millet are SADC's second and thirdmost important cereal grains in terms of production area.Farmers in southern Africa annually sow over 1.9 millionha of sorghum and 0.9 million ha of pearl millet (Table 1).This compares with an aggregate production area of 12million ha of maize. The area sown to sorghum and pearlmillet in SADC has generally been increasing with thegrowth of smallholder farming populations.Tanzania is the single most important sorghumproducer, accounting for 35% of the total production areain the region. Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, andBotswana together account for about 48% of SADC'ssorghum area. For pearl millet, Namibia and Tanzaniaeach account for about 27% of the SADC acreage,Zimbabwe for almost 20%, and Mozambique for 7%.Two countries are primarily dependent on sorghumand pearl millet based production systems. These areBotswana, where sorghum accounts for 84% of cerealsarea; and Namibia, where pearl millet provides a majorsource of livelihood and accounts for 81 % of cereals area.However, in other SADC countries these crops arccritically important in the drier and drought-proneregions.Sorghum and pearl millet continue to be primarilygrown as food security crops. More than 90% of theregion's production is consumed as food in the areaswhere these crops are produced. The stability ofproduction of these crops reduces the need to distributefood under drought relief programs.Sorghum production is relatively commercialized onlyin South Africa and Zimbabwe. In South Africa, some 600large-scale commercial farmers account for almost all ofthe commercial production. Roughly 60% of this harvestis used for food—sorghum meal, sorghum malt, and malt-ISMN 41, 2000 1 It is a great pleasure to feature in this issue of theInternational Sorghum and Millets Newsletter (ISMN) a number of news items and research notes that first saw thelight of day in the first three issues of SMINET News.This new regional newsletter of the Sorghum and MilletImprovement Network (SMINET) is part of Phase IV ofthe SADC/ICRISAT Sorghum and Millet ImprovementProgram (SMIP). SMINET News is proposed to bepublished twice a year to carry information on newtechnologies (developed in pilot countries and elsewhere)so they can spread rapidly throughout the SouthernAfrican Development Community (SADC) region. Ourintention here is to bring this information to the globalsorghum and millet research community. In future issuesof ISMN we plan to include relevant SMINET Newsnews items and research notes among those received fromother sources.An informal network existed during the previousphases of SMIP, but involved mainly scientist-scientistinteraction. It became necessary to broaden thisparticipation in order to realize the common vision ofimproved productivity, food security, and sustainability.Not only scientists, but all stakeholder groups are nowinvolved in SMIP— national and international researchinstitutes, extension, NGOs, farmers' organizations,policymakers, donors, and the private sector (seed, food,and stockfeed industries).With this broad participation, and pooled resources andexpertise SMIP looks forward to a productive partnership.SMINET News will broadcast information as widely,quickly, and cost-effectively as possible and ISMN willshare SMIP findings with its readers worldwide.For more information contact:Mary A MgonjaSMINET CoordinatorE-mail m.mgonja@cgiar.orgG M HeinrichSMIP Project ManagerE-mail g.heinrich@cgiar.orgEditorialSMINET Newsbased food products. Approximately 40% is used foranimal feed. South Africa exports approximately 30,000 t of sorghum grain to the milling industry in Botswana.In Zimbabwe, approximately 20,000 t of sorghum areannually used in the opaque beer brewing industry, andsmaller quantities in the animal feed and millingindustries. However, rising maize prices have encouragedstrong interest in expanded utilization.Commercial utilization of pearl millet is negligible inboth countries. Millers in Namibia have attempted tocommercialize the production of pearl millet meal, thoughquantities remain small. Approximately 300 t of pearl milletis used in the brewing industry in Zimbabwe.The contributions of sorghum and pearl millet tohousehold food security, and the commercial prospects forthese grains, depend on improvements in yield. Sorghumyields across the SADC region averaged only 0.8 t ha-1during the 1995-97 period, compared to 2.1 t ha-1 in the morecommercialized South African production system. Pearlmillet yields average even less than those of sorghum: only0.6 t ha-1 over the 1995-97 period, across the region as a whole.Despite the release of more than 26 new varieties ofsorghum and 15 new varieties of pearl millet over the past12 years, improvements in average grain yields arenegligible. This is partly because the new varietiesderived from national breeding programs have not beenwidely distributed to farmers. Adoption rates (SADC,excluding South Africa) average about 18%. In addition,most small-scale farmers still apply traditionalmanagement practices. The use of inorganic fertilizer onsorghum and pearl millet remains rare, except on large-scale farms. Only a minority of small-scale farmers useorganic manure. Yet soil quality is declining as farmersmine a shrinking land base.In order to more directly stimulate productivity gains,the fourth phase of the SMIP project (1999-2003)concentrates greater attention on promoting the adoptionof new seed and crop management technologies. Theproject is encouraging experimentation with alternativeseed supply strategies. In addition, attention has beendirected toward diagnosing constraints to thecommercialization of these crops, and working withindustry to resolve these constraints. Higher industrialdemand for sorghum and pearl millet will improveincentives both to expand production area and invest inimproved crop management.Sorghum and pearl millet will remain essential foodsecurity crops in southern Africa for decades to come.These grains will continue to ensure that few householdsface starvation, even in years of serious drought.However, the prospects for technological change willlargely depend on the competitiveness of these crops incommercial food and feed systems.Table 1. Sorghum and pearl millet production area in SADC, 1995-97 averageSorghum Pearl milletArea Yield Production Area Yield Production('000 ha) (t ha-1) ('000 t) ('000 ha) (t ha-1) ('000 t) Angola 82.6 na 37.5 66.1 0.5 30.0Botswana 150.0 0.2 36.7 9.3 0.3 2.7Dem. Republic of Congo 80.0 0.6 50.0 42 0 0.6 25.8Lesotho 17.7 1.0 16.8 0.0 - 0.0Malawi 74.7 0.7 53.2 13.8 0.6 7.8Mauritius 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 - 0.0Mozambique 439.8 0.5 235.5 69.9 0.4 30.4Namibia 34.6 0.2 7.3 269.8 0.2 66.9South Africa 172.5 2.1 356.9 21.0 0.6 13.0Swaziland 2.0 0.7 1.5 0.0 - 0.0Tanzania 683.2 0.9 648.6 263.3 1.0 255.7Zambia 44.4 0.5 31.0 30.8 0.3 22.7Zimbabwe 174.9 0.5 80.7 186.7 0.6 59.4SADC total 1956.5 0.8 1555.6 906.7 0.6 514.5na = not available.Source: FAO Production Yearbook.2 ISMN 41, 2000Table 1. Improved varieties released in ZimbabweVariety Year of release CharacteristicsSorghum SV 1 SV 2 SV 3 SV 4 1987198719981998Medium maturity, high yieldGood milling quality, high yieldMedium maturity, tolerant of Striga Late maturity, high yield potentialPearl millet FMV 1 PMV 2 PMV 3 198719921998Dwarf, high tillering, early maturityIntermediate height, dark gray seed, early maturityCreamy white bold grain, good for composite flourFinger millet FMV 1 FMV 2 19921992Early maturity, high yieldLate maturity, high yieldISMN 41,2000 3 lack of appropriate storage and processing technologiesare additional constraints. Previous agricultural policiesencouraged production of maize for export. Cropimprovement programs, development of trading andgrain processing infrastructure, were all built aroundmaize. This encouraged reliance on maize as a source offood and cash. But if similar efforts had been invested onsorghum and millets, these crops would have remainedstaples today, ensuring household food security inZimbabwe's semi-arid areas.Currently there are four sorghum, three pearl millet,and two finger millet improved open-pollinated varietiesavailable in Zimbabwe (Table 1). The sorghum varietieswere all selected and released by the national Sorghumand Millets Research Program of the Department ofResearch and Specialist Services (DR&SS). The SADC/ICRISAT Sorghum and Millet Improvement Programprovided exotic germplasm to the national program,assisting in the development and release of some of thesevarieties.Improved varieties can outyield traditional varieties insemi-arid environments, by virtue of being short-staturedand early maturing. These varieties are also resistant to majordiseases: head blast in finger millet; leaf blight, head smut,and downy mildew in sorghum; and ergot in both sorghumand pearl millet. In Zimbabwe, pearl and finger millets arenot affected by pests as much as sorghum is. Major pestsinclude stemborers, armyworm, shootfly, armored cricket,and nematodes. Witchweed (Striga asiatica) is also ofsignificant importance in sorghum and finger milletAt the moment, adoption of these improved varieties ispoor. There are several reasons for this, including inadequateseed production and delivery systems for small grains, anunpredictable grain market, and lack of appropriateprocessing technologies like threshers and milling machines.The national program, in partnership with other researchorganizations, is currently engaged in activities to resolvethese problems.Successful commercialization will depend both on theavailability of relevant production technology aswell as efforts to encourage investment in applying thesetechnologies to increase grain deliveries targetingparticular end uses. There is ample evidence that sorghumand pearl millet can compete successfully with maize inthe global coarse grains economy. The development ofstronger links between technology supply and marketdevelopment remains the main challenge forcommercialization of these crops in southern Africa.Sorghum and Millets in Zimbabwe—Production, Constraints, and CurrentResearchL T Mpofu (Sorghum and Millets Programme,Department of Research and Specialist Services,Matopos Research Station, Private Bag K 5137,Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)Sorghum, pearl millet, and finger millet are generally grownin semi-arid environments because of their droughttolerance. In Zimbabwe, these crops are staple foods formost rural households in the low-rainfall (450 to 650 mm)agroecological regions III, IV, and V. These regions, whichconstitute over 70% of Zimbabwe, are drought-prone andcharacterised by high temperatures and poor soils. Yetsmallholder farmers in these regions prefer to grow and eatmaize despite its frequent failure due to droughtConsequently, frequent food shortages occur, with farmershaving to rely on drought relief food.Yields of sorghum and millets on smallholder farms inZimbabwe are generally low, barely reaching 500 kg ha-1.This is largely because smallholder farmers continue togrow local landrace varieties characterised by low grainyields, tall plants, lodging, disease susceptibility, and latematurity. Apart from low production and productivity,

Sorghum and pearl millet production in southern Africa

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Sorghum and pearl millet production in southern Africa

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