Sorghum, production

Sorghum is usually grown as a rain fed crop but it's also grown under irrigation especially in some semiarid parts of the world. Important issues include; Land requirements and planting, fertilizer application, weeding, maturity period, and harvesting.

Major production constraints include; Striga weed, birds and fungal seed borne diseases such as smuts.

Red dots showing sorghum producing countries in the world¹

Sorghum is drought-resistant and heat-tolerant and hence makes it a very useful crop as it grows in hot and semiarid environments with 400 - 600 mm rainfall, which is even too dry for maize.

Sorghum is also found in temperate regions and at altitudes of up to 2300 meters in the tropics. Furthermore Sorghum is very moderate in concern of soil types.²

In 1994, sorghum was ranked 5th among the most important cereal crops of the world (after wheat, rice, maize, and barley in both total area planted and production).

Eighty percent of the area devoted to sorghum is located within Africa and Asia, with average yields of 810 and 1150 kilograms per hectare, respectively.³

»  See top 20 sorghum producers worldwide [PDF 98KB]
»  See table showing world sorghum production figures in metric tonnes
   [PDF 375KB]
»  See world sorghum production figures: Area harvested in Ha
   (1999-2003) [PDF 375KB]
»  See chart showing sorghum Production in metric tonnes in 2002 and
   2003 for 10 top most Countries
»  See chart showing sorghum production by top 10 countries

Sorghum is a main staple of people's diet in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. It is made into unleavened breads, boiled porridge or gruel, malted beverages including beer, and specialty foods such as popped grain and syrup from sweet sorghum.

Plant bases are an important source of fuel for cooking and the stems of wild varieties are used to make baskets or fish traps. Dye extracted from sorghum is used in West Africa to color leather red.^2/4