VALUE CHAIN #

Processing and utilization of sorghum

Sorghum Processing Technology

Processing of sorghum entails applying suitable grain, milling and malting procedures, which will not only maintain nutritional value, but also lead to minimal grain losses with improved marketability of the end products. The process goes through primary processing which involves cleaning, dehulling, pounding and milling. Then comes the secondary processing, which involves turning material into food, i.e. cooking, blending, fermentation and roasting. Both traditional and industrial processing methods are employed which may involve the partial or complete separation and/or modification of the three major constituents of the cereal grain, i.e. the germ, the starch containing endosperm and the protective pericarp (or testa).

Industrial methods of processing sorghum though not well developed as that of other cereals have had significant impact on the food security of the country. Industrial processing is in most cases, geared towards production of grit, malt, meal/flour and sometimes germ, with bran and germ-cake as by-product for feeding animals. Two main methods usually employed in sorghum processing are dry-milling and wet-milling.

 

Cleaning

In traditional systems, grain cleaning is achieved by winnowing, while washing in water will remove most dust and stones. In mechanised systems, forced air (aspiration) is used to remove lighter materials, while most stones, dust and other material are removed as the grain passes over a series of screens. Ferrous metal is removed by a permanent magnet placed in the flow path of the grain.

 

Small Scale Dry milling of Sorghum

The production of virtually all sorghum foods first comprise of two major operations:

• Debranning (dehulling)- removal of the unpalatable, sometimes tannin rich and highly pigmented bran and the rancidity causing fat rich germ;
• Size reduction (grinding)-converting the endosperm into meal or flour.

Traditionally in Africa, sorghum milling has been done using a pestle and mortar for dehulling and saddle quern for grinding or size reducing the grain, methods still used in many African communities.

Today, mechanised milling is becoming the norm, creating a milling industry and the opport-

unity for manufacture of more versatile sorghum food products to meet growing world food demands. Probably the most common method of mechanised sorghum milling in Africa is by abrasive debranning (also known as decortication or dehulling), followed by hammer milling of the endosperm material

 

Large scale Milling

The sequence of operations in sorghum dry milling is as follows:

• Cleaning: the sorghum is weighted and conveyed to a separator consisting of two sets of sieves equipped with an air aspirator. Stones, sticks and other coarse and fine materials are removed.
• Conditioning: The sorghum grain is passed into bins and at the same time conditioned by the addition of water (cold or hot) or steam so that the moisture content is raised to 19-22%, at which condition it is best suited for milling. The conditioned grain rests for about 24 hours before milling.
• Degerming and miling: When optimum conditioning has been achieved, the sorghum is passed through a worm conveyor from where it is dropped into a degerming machine consisting of a conical rotor revolving inside a conical stator. Both parts are fitted with studs which break up the grain. The grains then passed through successive fluted-rollers with decreasing fineness where they are reduced to grits, coarse, middling, flour and bran.
• Separation of the milling components (sifting): The milled grain is then passed through a rotary drier to reduce its moisture content to about 15%. It is then passed through a cooling worm into two rotating cylindrical sieves which removes the sorghum meal from the grits, germ and bran.
• Packaging: The milled products are packaged in bags of 10, 25 and 50 kg weights for distribution to market outlets. In most cases however, the grits are bulk transported to secondary production plants for use in infant foods and confectioneries.

 

 

Wet-Milling

Like other cereals, sorghum is wet-milled to obtain starch, oil, animal feeds (gluten feed, gluten meal, germ cake) and the hydrolysis products of starch (i.e. liquid and solid glucosesyrup). Dark-coloured sorghum varieties are not suitable for wet milling as the colours leaches out in to the steep unless a means for removing the colours is employed. The process which can also be carried at cottage level yield products like starch, germ, fibre and sorghum gluten. The steps involved in sorghum wet-milling are basically the same at both the small and large scale levels

• Steeping: The sorghum is cleaned and steeped for about 24 – 72 hours at room temperature [or 24 – 48 hours in warm water (about 50⁰ C)] containing sulphur dioxide (0.03%).
• De-germing: The steep water is drained off and the soaked grain is run through attrition mills to break it and free the germs. The slurry of ground sorghum is allowed to stand: the germ floats and is skimmed off for use in oil extraction and animal feeds.
• Milling: The de-germed slurry after straining is finely ground using attrition mill, and the hulls and fibre which are not finely ground are separated from the protein and starch using fine mesh screens.
• Separation of starch from protein: By subjecting the slurry in a high speed centrifuge, the starch which is heavier is separated at the outer region of the centrifuge while the lighter protein fractions migrate to the centre. The fractions of starch and protein are then dried to safe moisture levels.
• Oil extraction (at large scale only): Oil can also be extracted from the germ by either hydraulic press, screw press or solvent extraction using normal hexane. Main products obtained from sorghum wet-milling are starch, gluten (protein) and Germ (for oil)

 

Marketing of Sorghum

Sorghum is found in all Nigerian markets. It is widely consumed by most households, especially in the north, and it is used by breweries for producing beverages. Sorghum is important for households in the north, particularly the border markets where it is heavily traded with Niger. Below are the various market outlets which farmers can explore.

Buying and Selling of Sorghum

The marketing of sorghum starts with the farmers. They sell through the rural assemblers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers as well as local processor. These assemblers, who often handle relatively smaller volumes, may include some local farmers who have accumulated a little capital. The assemblers visit farmers often at harvest time and buy sorghum often in cash although they may get it on credit whenever adequate trust has been built between the buyer and the seller.

The points of sale are usually farm, home, village, and village and rural markets. The unit of measurement is not standard, as the grain is sold in bags, mudu or tiya. Prices are negotiable between the buyers and the sellers. Produce is transported to wholesalers in the urban centres using bicycle, lorry, pick-up van, trucks or buses depending on the quantity and accessibility of the road.

Quality criteria for Sorghum

• Traders and stockists want dry, clean grain, neither infested nor damaged.
• Millers want clean grain in homogeneous batches, not too hard for grinding and giving a high yield of milling products.
• Processors want hulled or broken products of homogeneous size, free of sand or other impurities and without parasitic odours or infestation.
• Consumers are sensitive to the colour, the texture, the aroma and the taste of the product after final cooking.

These quality criteria, reflected in the price, are always present even if the current quality standards are not always respected.

 

General standard for export

• The standard applies to sorghum for direct human consumption.
• Grains shall not have abnormal odour or taste.
• Grains may be white, pink, red, brown orange or yellow or may be a mixture of
• Grains must be sound, clean and free from living insects.
• Moisture content should not exceed 14.5 percent; ash not more than 1.5 percent on dry matter; protein not less than 7 percent on dry matter basis.
• Tannins: For whole grains – not to exceed 0.5 percent on dry matter. For polished grains – not to exceed 0.3 percent on dry matter basis.

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Packaging:

Threshed sorghum is packaged in sacks of 100, 200, 300, 500 and 750 weights for distribution to market outlets, warehouse, and stores. The sacks are often re-used and in case of re-using, care should be taken to prevent re-infestation of clean grain by boiling sacks in water and thorough drying.

 

Storage

The goal of good storage is to be able to deliver grain from store in good quality and with no loss in quantity. This is achieved by preventing the deterioration caused by: Adverse climatic conditions (temperature, relative humidity, etc.), Contamination by extraneous material; Grain germination; and Pest infestation. Traditionally, un-threshed heads are store in a solid walled container called a rumbu, bins, silos, warehouse etc. For short-term storage, bundles of sorghum heads are arranged in layer in the rumbu. For long-term storage of three to six years, the heads are laid out individually rather than in bundles. While threshed grains are stored in bags in small quantities for immediate consumptions or for seed are store in clay pots, tins, or calabash. In large farms and markets grains are stored in warehouse or in large silos. Ensuring that the storage environment is clean and tidy and in a good state of repair, makes a major contribution to the quality control during storage, but it is insufficient to prevent losses by pests.

 

Transportation

In rural area donkeys, pick-up vans and trucks are mainly used to transport sorghum from the point of production to home or rural markets, urban area and mill plant.  In general, Nigerian agricultural value chains suffer greatly from high transportation costs. limited rail service, poor road conditions, ‘’go slsow’’ bottlenecks, and rampant checkpoints contribute in the reducing the competitiveness of agricultural goods produced in Nigeria. This is particularly true of product that are transported over long distances, such as sorghum.

Means of transportation of sorghum.

 

Wholesaling

Sorghum wholesalers can be defined as traders who buy and sell in large volume. They operate at several levels of the value chain; at the rural assembling level; regional level (long distance assembler/wholesaler) and at consumer level. http://www.academia.edu/3617293/Sorghum_Production_Processing_Marketing_and_Utilization

 

International Trade

World trade in sorghum is strongly linked to demand for livestock products, dominated by feed requirements and prices in Group II countries. Only 6 percent of world sorghum trade (about 500,000 tons per year) is for use as food. This is mainly imported by countries in Africa. Since trade is primarily for animal feed, volumes are very sensitive to sorghum/maize price differentials and can fluctuate considerably.

The world market for sorghum currently represents slightly more than 3 percent of global cereals trade. Although most sorghum continues to be consumed in the countries where it is produced, export volumes have risen from 3 million tons in the early 1960s to over 12 million tons (about 20 percent of total output) by the early 1980s (Tables 6 and 7). Most of the expansion took place in the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, when world trade in sorghum tripled within a period of roughly 15 years, in line with the rise in imports of other coarse grains. Another sharp expansion occurred in the early 1980s, when the former USSR, as a result of the United States' export embargo, started to purchase large quantities of sorghum on the international market. These purchases also narrowed the sorghum/maize export price differential compared with the 1950s and 1960s.

World trade peaked at over 13 million tons in 1985, then fell sharply and remained at around 10 million tons until the early 1990s. It dropped further to about 8 million tons in 1994. This decline was due to a number of factors, including:

• a sharp cutback of production in the United States;
• the narrowed export price gap between maize and sorghum during the 1990s (Fig. 7), which made sorghum less competitive as a feed ingredient;
• the lifting of earlier restrictions or bans on maize imports applied by a number of countries, including Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.

 

World sorghum imports

		1979-81 (‘000 tons)	1984-86 (‘000 tons)	1989-91 (‘000 tons)	1992-94 (‘000 tons)
Developing countries		3801.6	4351.8	4901.8	4754.3
Africa		152.4	482.5	305.2	423.7
Northern Africa		0.1	148.3	202.3	196.6
	Sudan	0.02	140.1	92.3	191.8
	Others	0.1	8.2	110.0	4.9
Western Africa		115.8	198.6	87.1	51.6
	Burkina Faso	15.2	13.7	15.8	6.4
	Mali	16.7	2.0	13.2	9.2
	Niger	18.6	49.7	17.6	19.4
	Senegal	23.3	60.0	20.2	9.0
	Others	42.0	73.2	20.3	7.6
Central Africa		2.9	17.0	3.9	6.1
Eastern Africa		12.0	57.6	11.8	147.9
	Ethiopia	4.1	29.0	6.8	62.0
	Kenya	0.1	0.0	1.0	16.8
	Somalia	3.7	12.5	3.8	19.0
	Zimbabwe	0.0	3.2	0.0	17.1
	Others	4.2	12.9	0.2	33.0
Southern Africa		21.6	61.0	0.1	21.5
	Botswana	13.9	60.0	0.1	21.5
	Others	7.6	1.0	0.0	0.0
Asia		847.7	1158.2	654.0	238.9
	China	591.0	657.2	82.4	104.0
	Korea, Republic of	72.5	302.9	238.2	82.5
	Turkey	0.0	0.0	55.4	0.0
	Others	184.3	198.1	278.0	49.4
Latin America		2793.6	2703.9	3330.2	4084.5
	Caribbean	4.0	0.0	65.4	3.6
Central America		2111.1	1930.5	2914.0	3990.4
	Mexico	2106.9	1922.7	2912.1	3982.2
	Others	4.3	7.8	1.9	8.2
South America		678.4	773.5	350.8	90.4
	Chile	13.7	6.4	2.2	33.3
	Colombia	64.7	68.0	0.7	21.5
	Ecuador	0.0	10.3	28.0	10.4
	Venezuela	588.6	684.5	315.8	4.5
	Others	11.4	4.3	4.1	20.8
Oceania		7.9	7.1	12.4	7.3
Developed countries		7892.8	6942.3	5234.5	3796.7
	Israel	452.8	500.1	302.3	146.3
	Japan	4291.3	4749.0	3843.9	2980.3
	South Africa	2.0	9.4	0.4	85.4
	EC3	1014.2	520.8	617.6	552.9
	CIS4	1820.2	1160.3	387.7	2.4
	Others	312.2	2.6	82.6	29.4
World		11694.4	11294.0	9536.3	8551.1

• Each figure is a 3-year average for the respective period, e.g., 1979-81.
• Shown as zero for imports less than 50 tons.
• Including intra-trade among member countries.
• Until 1991, area of the former USSR.

Source: FAO

 

 

 

World sorghum exports

		1979-81 (‘000 tons)	1984-86 (‘000 tons)	1989-91 (‘000 tons)	1992-94 (‘000 tons)
Main exporters		11328.9	10856.7	8764.3	7993.5
	Argentina	3461.3	3144.7	926.5	842.1
	Australia	519.8	1200.0	261.2	188.8
	China	3.7	439.9	515.8	357.9
	United States	7344.0	6072.1	7060.8	6604.7
Others		1011.4	591.6	478.4	739.4
Africa		477.9	67.8	164.1	339.2
	South Africa	208.5	33.7	11.0	1.4
	Sudan	246.2	18.5	136.0	278.7
	Others	23.2	15.6	17.1	59.1
Asia		222.2	312.3	57.1	81.9
	Thailand	189.4	267.8	55.4	9.2
	Others	32.8	44.5	1.8	72.7
Latin America and the Caribbean		54.1	45.5	17.2	38.5
Europe		266.3	165.9	239.9	279.7
EC2		251.2	159.5	230.0	272.3
Hungary		7.1	6.4	9.6	7.4
Developing countries		4001.6	3976.4	1669.6	1658.1
Developed countries		8338.7	7471.8	7573.1	7074.9
World		12340.2	11448.3	9242.7	8732.9

 

• Each figure is a 3-year average for the respective period, e.g., 1979-81.
• Including intra-trade among member countries.

Source: FAO

 

One important trend is that sorghum imports by developed countries have fallen sharply, while those by developing countries have increased considerably in response to growth in livestock production. As a result, the share of developing countries in world sorghum imports has increased substantially, from 3-4 percent in the early 1960s to about 55 percent currently.

The major exporters are Argentina, Australia, China and the United States, which together ship more than 90 percent of the global export volume (Table 7). The United States alone supplies about three-quarters of all exports. Sorghum production and exports from Argentina expanded sharply between the early 1960s and early 1980s. During this period the harvested area rose from 0.8 million to 1.9 million hectares. However, exports fell markedly following a drop in demand during the second half of the 1980s. Australia entered the export market at the beginning of the 1970s, when it started to replace some of its wheat area with sorghum. China became an important exporter by the mid-1980s, but its share in the world market declined recently following a sharp rise in domestic demand for sorghum as animal feed.

The contributions of all the remaining suppliers to world exports are limited. Thailand emerged as a small but regular exporter by the mid-1960s, but rising demand from the domestic livestock industry has reduced exports since the late 1980s. Sudan is a traditional supplier with great potential, but is affected by large year-to-year fluctuations in export availability because of periodic drought.

In the Sahel, good harvests in recent years combined with relatively inelastic domestic demand have led to the emergence of exportable surpluses in a number of countries including Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. However, strong competition on international grain markets and high assembly and transportation costs make it difficult for these countries to export.

Developing countries in general, apart from the already established traditional feed grain exporters such as Argentina and China, face a number of problems in exporting sorghum. The volume they have for sale is usually small and not available regularly, and the quality is variable. Moreover, a combination of low yields, high costs of inputs and inland transport and, in some instances, overvalued currencies makes their exports uncompetitive in the highly competitive international market.

The volume of trade between developing countries is limited and often restricted to cross-border and/or triangular food aid transactions. However, official statistics underestimate trade volumes in some regions. Intra-regional trade in Western Africa, for example, is believed to be considerably larger than officially recorded. A substantial portion of the trade between the Sahelian countries, and between some of them and their coastal neighbours, is unrecorded. Similarly, much of the trade between Sudan and its neighbours is unrecorded. This substantial, unofficial trade is caused chiefly by differences in policies (e.g., support prices, foreign exchange rates and government restrictions on trade) between the trading partners.

 

Production constraints

The majority of smallholder farmers, especially in the semi-arid tropical regions of Africa, do not produce enough sorghum to meet family requirements in most years. They see sorghum (and crop production in general) as a semi-subsistence enterprise that offers smaller returns than other investments such as livestock or school fees. As a result, they tend not to invest in fertilizers or seed of improved varieties.

Rising labour costs have also affected most farm operations, from land preparation, weeding and bird scaring to harvesting and grain processing. Another factor, important throughout Asia and in urban areas in Africa, is changing food preferences. As incomes rise, consumers tend to purchase wheat, rice and in some cases maize, rather than traditional coarse grains.

In some areas production is constrained by birds, which attack the crop particularly during the grain-filling stage. To minimize bird damage, sorghum with a purple undercoat is cultivated in some countries. The undercoat contains tannins, bitter, stringent substances (polyphenols) that are distasteful to birds. However, most varieties grown in Africa and Asia do not contain tannin and are, therefore, susceptible to bird damage.

Another major constraint to sorghum production is Striga, a parasitic weed that attaches itself to the sorghum roots from where it draws its moisture and nutrient requirements, inhibiting plant growth, reducing yields and in severe cases, causing plant death. Some Striga-resistant sorghum varieties have been developed, but these generally offer lower yields than traditional cultivars and improved (but Striga-susceptible) varieties.

Grain moulds cause significant losses in both grain yield and quality, particularly in areas where improved cultivars have been adopted². Other important diseases include anthracnose, charcoal rot, downy mildew, ergot and leaf blight. Insect pests constrain production in many areas. Stem borers are endemic in all areas; head bugs and midge are most important in Western Africa; and shoot fly causes substantial losses in late and off-season sowings in both Asia and Africa.

Most improved varieties mature earlier than local varieties, often before the end of the rainy season. This results in increased susceptibility to grain moulds, greatly limiting the adoption of these varieties.

Another major problem is that variable rainfall leads to large fluctuations in production. Prices fall abruptly in good years, leaving traders reluctant to enter the market, especially since stockholding infrastructure is usually inadequate. This increases the price risk that sorghum producers face, and their unwillingness to invest in commercial sorghum production.

Inadequate government policy support also limits the expansion of sorghum output in many Group I countries. For example, in Africa, as government production support measures for sorghum are relatively small compared to maize, the latter encroached onto sorghum land. In Asia, particularly in India, irrigation and fertilizer subsidies have increasingly favoured rice, wheat and cash crops at the expense of coarse grains, while procurement policies for rice and wheat have helped to increase to a large extent the area under these crops. In a number of developing countries that had long-standing price support policies for sorghum, this support has been drastically reduced or eliminated, mainly as a result of market deregulation. http://www.fao.org/docrep/w1808e/w1808e03.htm#production trends

 

 

Utilization

Worldwide, total utilization of sorghum fell slightly from 65.4 million tons in 1979-81 to 63.5 million tons in 1992-94 (Table 3). In the early 1980s an estimated 39 percent of global production was used as food and 54 percent for feed. The proportion of food utilization has gradually increased as a result of a greater food use in Africa and the substitution of sorghum by other grains (mainly maize) as feed elsewhere. By 1992-94, 42 percent of total utilization was for food and 48 percent for animal feed.

 

Food use

Worldwide, approximately 27 million tons of sorghum were consumed as food each year during the 1992-94 period (Table 3), almost the entire amount in Africa and Asia. It is a key staple in many parts of the developing world, especially in the drier and more marginal areas of the semi-arid tropics. Per caput food consumption of sorghum in rural producing areas is more stable, and usually considerably higher, than in urban centres. And within these rural areas, consumption tends to be highest in the poorest, most food-insecure regions.

Sorghum is eaten in a variety of forms that vary from region to region. In general, it is consumed as whole grain or processed into flour, from which traditional meals are prepared. There are four main sorghum-based foods:

• flat bread, mostly unleavened and prepared from fermented or unfermented dough in Asia and parts of Africa;
• thin or thick fermented or unfermented porridge, mainly consumed in Africa;
• boiled products similar to those prepared from maize grits or rice;
• preparations deep-fried in oil.

Per caput consumption of sorghum – and its importance as a food security crop – is highest in Africa. For example, per caput consumption is 90-100 kg/yr in Burkina Faso and Sudan; sorghum provides over one-third of the total calorie intake in these two countries. However, per caput food consumption in Africa has fallen slightly (0.1 percent per annum) between 1979 and 1994 (Table 4), most sharply in Eastern Africa. Sorghum production in Africa rose by 44 percent during this period, but even this increase was not quite sufficient to keep pace with population growth.

During the 1979-94 period, per caput consumption of sorghum declined slightly through the 1980s, as a result of strong production growth. If this growth could be maintained, food security and nutrition levels could be improved substantially in rural areas, where over 90 percent of food sorghum in Africa is consumed.

In Asia, sorghum continues to be a crucial food security crop in some areas (e.g., rural Maharashtra in India, where per caput consumption is over 70 kg/yr). However, both production and food utilization have fallen during the 1980s and early 1990s, because of shifting consumer preferences. As incomes rise, consumers are shifting to wheat and rice which taste better and are easier and faster to cook. This trend is accentuated by rapid urbanization and the growing availability of a range of convenience foods based on wheat and rice.

Government policies in a number of countries have also contributed to the decline in food utilization of sorghum. For instance, imports of relatively cheap wheat and rice by many countries discouraged the consumption of locally produced cereals. In other countries (China and India), government purchases and sales of sorghum under public distribution systems were discontinued, lowering utilization in urban areas. In several countries, consumer subsidies, overvalued currencies or subsidized imports kept prices of wheat and/or rice relatively low, reducing the competitiveness of domestically produced coarse grains. However, structural adjustment programmes and the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreement are reducing these market distortions in a number of countries.

 

Animal feed

About 48 percent of world sorghum grain production is fed to livestock (human food use constitutes about 42 percent). In contrast to food utilization, which is relatively stable, utilization for feed sorghum changes significantly in response to two factors: rising incomes, which stimulate the consumption of livestock products, and the price competitiveness of sorghum vis-a-vis other cereals, especially maize. While sorghum is generally regarded as an inferior cereal when consumed as food, the income elasticities for livestock products (and hence the derived demand for feed) are generally positive and high.

Demand for animal feed is concentrated in the developed countries and in middle-income countries in Latin America and Asia, where demand for meat is high and the livestock industry is correspondingly intensive. Over 85 percent of sorghum feed use occurs in Group II (Fig. 6). Three countries (United States, Mexico and Japan) together absorb nearly 70 percent of the world total (Table 5).

 

Sorghum utilization by type and region.

		Direct food (million tons)	Feed (million tons)	Other uses1 (million tons)	Total utilization (million tons)	Per caput food use (kg/yr)
1979-81 average
Developing countries		25.0	14.7	4.4	44.2	7.7
	Africa	9.0	0.8	2.3	12.1	18.8
	Asia	15.7	7.4	2.0	25.1	6.1
	Central America and the Caribbean	0.4	7.0	0.2	7.6	3.6
	South America	0.1	3.7	0.3	4.1	0.3
Developed countries		0.3	20.4	0.6	21.2	0.2
	North America	0.1	10.5	0.2	10.8	0.5
	Europe	0.0	2.8	0.0	2.8	0.0
	USSR (former)	0.0	2.5	0.0	2.5	0.0
	Oceania	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.4	0.0
World		25.3	35.1	5.0	65.4	5.7
1989-91 average
Developing countries		25.1	14.5	3.7	43.3	6.2
	Africa	11.5	0.9	1.8	14.2	18.2
	Asia	13.3	6.1	1.6	21.0	4.6
	Central America and the Caribbean	0.4	8.4	0.3	9.1	2.7
	South America	0.0	2.7	0.2	2.9	0.1
Developed countries		0.4	16.8	0.5	17.7	0.3
	North America	0.2	10.9	0.2	11.3	0.8
	Europe	0.0	1.2	1.2	1.4	0.0
	USSR (former)	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.0
	Oceania	0.0	0.8	0.0	0.8	0.0
World		25.5	31.3	4.2	61.1	4.8
1992-94 average
Developing countries		26.4	14.8	5.5	46.7	6.2
	Africa	12.8	1.3	3.2	17.3	18.6
	Asia	13.3	5.6	2.0	20.9	4.1
	Central America and the Caribbean	0.4	7.5	0.3	8.3	2.9
	South America	0.0	3.1	0.3	3.4	0.1
Developed countries		0.3	15.8	0.7	16.8	0.2
	North America	0.1	11.1	0.3	11.5	0.5
	Europe	0.0	1.1	0.2	1.3	0.0
	CIS	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.0
	Oceania	0.0	0.8	0.0	0.8	0.0
World		26.7	30.6	6.2	63.5	4.8

 

For seed, manufacturing purposes and waste.

 

 

 

 

Estimated growth rates of sorghum utilization by type and region, 1979-94.

		Direct food (%/yr)	Feed (%/yr)	Other uses1(%/yr)	Total utilization (%/yr)	Per caput food use (%/yr)
Developing countries		0.3	-0.3	0.7	0.1	-1.6
	Africa	2.8	3.7	1.6	2.7	-0.1
	Asia	-1.6	-1.5	-1.0	-1.5	-3.4
	Central America and the Caribbean	0.6	0.5	3.0	0.6	-1.6
	South America	-4.1	-2.3	0.1	-2.1	-6.0
Developed countries		3.8	-2.2	1.6	-2.0	2.7
	North America	0.9	-0.2	1.6	-0.2	-0.1
	Europe	-51.7	-4.4	15.4	-3.0	0.0
	CIS2	0.0	-23.6	2.2	-22.5	0.0
	Oceania	-5.5	4.7	51.0	-5.0	-7.4
World		0.3	-1.3	0.8	-0.5	-1.5

 

For seed, manufacturing purposes and waste.
Until 1991, area of the former USSR.
Source: FAO

World feed use rose from 16 million tons at the beginning of the 1960s to about 35 million tons by the mid-1980s, an average growth of 4 percent per annum. This demand was the main driving force in raising global production and international trade during that period. One major factor was increased use of sorghum feed in the United States during the 1960s and early 1970s, largely because the cattle-feeding industry shifted from the northern maize belt to the southern plains, where most United States sorghum is grown. Another factor was sharply rising demand for livestock products in Latin America, particularly in Mexico. In addition, government policies in some Latin American countries (e.g., Venezuela) restricted maize imports.

Trends since then were shaped by two events -response by the former USSR to the United States’ grain embargo on sales in the early 1980s, and policy changes in the United States that favoured maize over sorghum. These factors led to an increase in maize production; maize became cheaper than sorghum, and sorghum trade and utilization for animal feed declined. Feed utilization has gradually increased in Africa and remained relatively unchanged in the lower-income countries in Asia. Roughly 5-10 percent of the sorghum produced in India – and a considerably higher proportion in China – is used for livestock and poultry feed. However, both these regions are relatively minor users of feed; changes in utilization trends are driven largely by the Group II countries, particularly the United States.

 

Sorghum vs maize.

Competition between sorghum and maize is a key factor in feed utilization. The feed characteristics of sorghum are very similar to those of other cereals with which it competes. It provides about as much metabolizable energy as maize, has a higher crude protein content (though of lower quality), and is relatively rich in niacin, an essential vitamin. However, large investments in maize research have helped increase yields and reduce growing cycles for this competing energy source. This has improved the competitiveness of maize prices in many countries.

Feed industries in most countries apply least-cost formulations to produce compound feeds, in which sorghum/maize is mixed with non-grain ingredients. The quantity of sorghum used in feed depends primarily on the relative prices of sorghum and maize, and on relative feed value.

Another important factor is consumer preference for meat colour. Maize contains higher carotene levels than sorghum, so meat from maize-fed animals tends to be more yellow than meat from sorghum-fed animals. In Japan for example, consumers generally prefer white-coloured meat. Therefore, sorghum is a valued ingredient in some compound feed rations (for poultry, pigs and some breeds of beef cattle). In contrast, sorghum is discounted by producers in India because consumers there generally prefer poultry meat and egg yolks with a deeper yellow colour.

In addition, farmers in Asia have shown a growing interest in the sale and purchase of sorghum fodder. While the use of sorghum crop residues in Africa remains largely restricted to the farm, there is a large and growing market in Asia for traded sorghum residues to meet both rural feed shortfalls and urban agricultural demand, the latter largely for maintenance of dairy animals.

 

Feed sorghum utilization in selected countries.

	1979-81 average (million tons)	1984-86 average (million tons)	1989-91 average (million tons)	1992-94 average (million tons)
United States	10.5	14.7	10.9	11.1
Mexico	6.7	6.6	8.1	7.1
Japan	4.1	4.2	3.5	2.6
China	2.4	2.1	1.5	1.9
Argentina	2.1	2.5	0.9	1.5
EC	1.8	0.5	0.8	0.9
Australia	0.4	0.3	0.8	0.8
Colombia	0.5	0.5	0.7	0.7
Venezuela	0.7	1.3	0.6	0.4
CIS1	2.5	0.9	0.3	0.1
Others	3.4	3.1	3.2	3.2
World	35.1	36.7	31.3	30.6

 

Until 1991, area of the former USSR.
Source: FAO

 

Other uses

Another important outlet for grain sorghum, especially in Africa, is in the preparation of alcoholic beverages. The grain is used for malt or as an adjunct in the production of two types of beer: clear beer and opaque beer, a traditional, low-alcohol African beer that contains fine suspended particles. Although statistics on the quantities of sorghum used in beer preparation are lacking for many countries, the available data indicate that most of this grain is allocated to opaque beer production. Sorghum is traditionally a major ingredient in home-brewed beer, the growing demand for which has created a commercial industry in some countries. This industry produces both opaque beer and dried beer powder for retail sale. Much smaller quantities are used to produce clear beer, primarily in Nigeria and Rwanda. A temporary ban on barley imports in Nigeria during the late 1980s and early 1990s encouraged the development of a market for sorghum-based malt drinks. Small quantities of grain are also used for the production of sweeteners in Nigeria.

Outside Africa, small quantities are used in the beer industries in Mexico and the United States. In China, about one-third of sorghum grain production is reported to be used to make alcoholic beverages, mainly a strong traditional liquor. http://www.fao.org/docrep/w1808e/w1808e04.htm#TopOfPage

 

Sorghum Processing Equipment Introduction:
Sorghum processing equipment is used for cleaning, hulling, grading, colour sorting, packaging sorghum. Sorghum processing equipment usually refers to the processing line. It can meet the market’s need, and create more economic profits for clients.

 

Sorghum Processing Equipment Technical Description: #

The raw material is elevated to cleaning process where double sifters and destoners are installed. The vibration screen effectively clean big and small impurities; the destoner completely removes heavy impurities like stones and mud; The magnetic separator is mainly used to clean out the metal, greatly increasing purity of the finished products; the collector gathers the impurities.

 

The purified materials go to the processing procedure where two emery and iron roll hullers are installed. The emery roll huller is a new equipment well designed and developed according to clients’ requirements; the spiral conveyor is used to charge in the material by force with stable flow but small amount of brokens. The huller is equipped with indicator to display current and voltage, regulator to adjust multiple ventilation doors; the advanced wear resistant parts in the machine are durable. The iron roll huller is effective and stable; the spiral conveyor is used to charge in the material but force with stable flow by small amount of brokens. The huller is equipped with indicator to display current and voltage, regulator to adjust multiple ventilation doors; the wear resistant parts in the machine are of advanced technology.

 

The hulled sorghum is elevated to the polisher to be whitened and sifted out the brokens with double-case plansifter. Then they go to the colour grader to be selected out the particles of different colour.
By-products (husks, flour) from emery roll and iron roll hullers and polishers are individually packaged by packaging cabinet.

Sorghum Processing Equipment Structure: #

The sorghum processing equipment consists of: sorghum processing equipment (e.g.: sorghum huller, sorghum rice miller and polisher, colour-sorter, etc.) and foodstuff processing general equipment (e.g.: hoist, de-stoner, H-efficient vibrating sifter etc.). The line can process sorghum rice, and the finished products are series of sorghum rice and feed. Sorghum processing equipment features:

• It has high yield, inclusion-free of the finished sorghum.
• The line has simple structure, high adjustability for the field area and the workshop.
• It can effectively cut down the fixed investment.
• It has simple installation and short construction period.
• The line adopts the most advanced technology, which can save more energy.
• Win Tone sorghum processing equipment is the perfect choice for millet and sorghum processing.

Technical Function and Consumption

1. Raw material
   Volume weight: no less than 740g/L；brokens: less than 3%; impurity: less than 1；moisture: less than 14.5%
2. Power：220V&380V, 50Hz（or according to the buyer’s local condition);
3. Water：public water up to drinking standard under 30℃, average flow meets production and life requirements;
4. Main design index：
   Capacity：20-500tpd in normal condition.
   Workshop environment：
   Dust concentration ≤15mg/m3 

http://www.grain-processing.org/PRODUCTS/Sorghum-Processing-Equipment/621.html

 

 

Item	Unit	Capacity	Unit Cost (₦’000)	Total Cost (₦’000)
Cabinet Drier	1	500kg/Batch	1,800.00	1,800.00
Grain Destoner	1	1T/Hour	375.00	375.00
Aspirator	1	1T/Hour	250.00	250.00
Hammer Mill with cyclone	1	1T/Hour	1,200.000	1,200.000
Cone blender	1	50kg/Batch	450.00	450.00
Band Sealing Machine	1		350.00	350.00
Weighing Machine		–	650.00	650.00

 

The prices of these machinery & equipment above are tentatives and subject to confirmation at the Institute. For further enquiry please call: 08023415016; 08027155981; 08082429082; 08038010362; 08023284509; 08034545899; 08023653752 and 08035202434.

http://www.fiiro.org/index.php/services/cost-of-machinery-equipment-for-technologies/351-machinery-and-equipment-for-sorghum-flour-production-3t-day

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