Sorghum production to exceed 2 million tons in 2020

The production of sorghum in Cameroon which is currently at one million tons could be doubled over the next five years to 2 million tons per year, according to Ministry of Agriculture and the agricultural market for development and investment project (PIDMA).

According to studies, the prospects are encouraging in the far North and North regions known to be the two areas of production. This increase is explained inter alia, through financial assistance to producers in the PIDMA, a project funded by the World Bank (WB) for about 50 billion CFA francs.

The production of sorghum in the 2014-2015 current year is projected at 1,099 million tonnes. It is scheduled to increase a little more than 200 000 tonnes each year and finally reach 2 million tons in 2020.

The growing interest for the production of sorghum in Cameroon, explained at the Ministry of Agriculture, would be linked to the growing needs expressed by agro-industries including the beer companies who prefer sorghum barley imported for the production of its carbonated and alcoholic drinks.

This is the case of the British multinational Digeao, owner of the Guinness brand, which has embarked on a program to reduce its imports of raw materials by investing approximately 3 billion CFA francs in a project for the promotion of the culture of sorghum in the far north of Cameroon.