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SORGHUM
AND MILLETS
Total
population of the Eastern and Central Africa region is approximately
250 million people hosted in an area estimated at 8.0 million
square kilometres. About 80% of this population live in the
rural areas and derive their livelihood from agriculture;
approximately 40% (i.e. 100 million people) live in the dry
and sub-humid areas where sorghum and millets are mostly cultivated.
Sorghum forms one of the basic staple foods in the region
and has been ranked highly in the ASARECA Regional Agricultural
Research Priorities, after maize and bean (3rd). Sorghum and
millets (mainly pearl and finger millets) are consumed in
many forms, of which the most important are leavened bread
(injera in Eritrea and Ethiopia, kisra in Sudan); thick porridge
(ugali in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), thin porridge (uji),
non-alcoholic beverages (hulumur, abrey and huswa in Sudan,
obushera in Uganda), and alcoholic beverages (pombe in Tanzania,
busaa in Kenya, tela in Ethiopia and Eritrea, ajon and omuramba
in Uganda). The crops also have a great potential for industrial
production of bread, beer and animal feeds, in the use of
crop residues (stover) and for construction.
In
eastern and central Africa, sorghum is grown on approximately
10 million ha and millets on over 3 million ha. The crops
are mainly cultivated by small-scale resource-poor farmers
in the region and yields are generally low. The vast bulk
of production is used for food, forming the staple cereal
in Sudan and Eritrea, and an important component of the diet
in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.
Small quantities are used for animal feed and industrial production.
Approximately 60% of sorghum and millets production is consumed
at farm level and the remaining 40% is predominantly sold
in local markets.
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