IntroductionSorghum is one of the most important cereal crops in semi-arid tropics. It is well adapted to drought and diverse weather conditions.
Implemetation Details
It has been one of the underutilized crops in Kenya, however, the increased use of sorghum by industrial processors has led to high demand for sorghum grain, for an instant the brewing industry demand was 30,000MT per year in 2017.
Despite this, the production is still low at (0.8 t/ha). Causes of low productivity in sorghum include low-yielding varieties and narrow adaptation. Through ASAL APRP funding, one high-yielding drought-tolerant sorghum variety, KM32-1, which can also grow in cold semi-arid regions, has high brewing quality and is resistant to smut disease has been developed.
The white variety will be promoted for adoption, production, and commercialization by sorghum farmers and actors in the value chain through the Public, Private Partnership (PPP) model, Collective Production and Marketing System model (COPMAS) which was used in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Agricultural Productivity Research Project (ASAL APRP). For the promotion to take effect the breeder seed must be produced and bulk seed multiplication is done.
