Super sorghum - high yielding and drought tolerant

White-headed sorghum is being promoted in dry areas because it can produce a crop even when rains are poor
© Pius Sawa

In western Kenya, 3,000 smallscale farmers have adopted a new variety of high yielding, drought tolerant sorghum, called Sila sorghum. In areas where maize is becoming increasingly difficult to grow, because of insufficient rainfall, sorghum can be an excellent alternative. The Sila variety has been developed in Zimbabwe by Seed Co Limited, and reaches maturity in just three months. According to Sila promoter, Bakari Khamsin, farmers in Kenya could soon be growing the sorghum commercially, to supply Kenya Breweries, which is keen to use the crop for beer making, as a substitute for barley.