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Importation killing local production of sorghum

| credits: www.valencyinternational.com

The production of sorghum in the country is on the decline, industry experts have said.

Consequently, the Group Executive Director, Sona Group of Companies, Mr. Peter Oyaniyi, has called on the Federal Government to place more emphasis on the production of more grains, including sorghum.

Oyaniyi in an exclusive interview with our correspondent noted that among the grains cultivated to boost food production and industrial utilisation in the country, sorghum had the least attention from the federal government.

He said, “Sorghum is not being talked about as much as other grains. Rice and its silos are always mentioned, maize and even cassava too. Because it is in the transformation agenda, you can see what they are doing in the North in the area of paddy rice production and milling.

“They have just inaugurated some rice silos in Zamfara State and these are the areas where sorghum are grown as well; Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and even Kaduna. So if they put it on the agenda, there will be emphasis on that and farmers will be encouraged to grow it.”

Information from the agriculture sector indicates that up till 2008, Nigeria was the second largest world producer of the sorghum with 11 million metric tonnes per annum after the United States. According to United States Department of Agriculture, the annual production is now likely to be slightly above six million metric tonnes.

According to Oyaniyi, most manufacturers who use malted sorghum in the production of malt drinks, now import malted barley, which is a cheaper substitute.

He added that the situation had caused companies that produce malted sorghum to stop production and some farmers to opt for other ventures, leaving only a handful of companies to produce malted sorghum.

“The industries that are into sorghum production are currently operating at about 40 per cent capacity utilisation with respect to malting of sorghum. So if most or some companies that are malting sorghum are closing shop because they have no capacity to run their companies, then something is wrong. Those companies who can use these malted sorghum are using imported materials, those who are still using it are using only about 30 per cent, the rest imported barley,” he said.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, had last year said that as one of the largest producers of sorghum in the world, there were plans to boost production and make the country the largest processor of the grain.

The minister had said that there were plans to work with the private sector to process sorghum into the high-energy foods and that the ministry had already signed contract with the World Food Programme to buy the high-energy foods from Nigeria.

He added that the federal government had distributed 1,000 tonnes of improved sorghum seeds to farmers which were planted on 100, 000 hectares of farmland.

Oyaniyi, however, called on the federal government to include sorghum production on its transformation agenda and ensure increase in production.

“If farmers can grow and get companies to buy, there will be a chain effect but if importation is encouraged as it is now, production will continue to go down. Sorghum is not just used for malt, it can be used in various ways; I won’t say the imported substitute is substandard but I don’t think it is good for our foreign exchange earning to import what we can afford,” he said.

The Personal Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture on Media, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, however, said that production was not going down as the varieties of seedlings given to farmers were expected to produce a lot more.

He said, “If we are using better varieties, how can production go down? The better yielding varieties attract more farmers; so, there should be more production rather than a decline.

“There are many reasons why people go into importation; part of the story why people go into importation of food stuff and raw materials is the incentives which they may not want to miss.”