Super Sorghum Offers Hope in Africa Malnutrition

Sorghum is a crop closely related to corn and it is a staple par of the African diet. Developments in the genetic modification of this crop have been heralded as a very real hope for easing Africa malnutrition. There have been significant strides in biotechnology which have allowed sorghum to be fortified with further protein, so that anything made with the sorghum is more nutritionally beneficial. This could help Africa nutrition because less of the corn would need to be consumed in order for the person to receive the daily protein levels they need in order to be healthy. If it works, it should really help to ease the problem of Africa malnutrition.

Since this discovery of how sorghum can be fortified with protein and other nutritionally rich substances in 2005, the problem of Africa malnutrition and the involvement of Africa’s scientific community have put super sorghum right at the forefront of scientific research. Most of the research is being carried out in Kenya, the most developed country of the so-called ‘Third World’.

Sorghum is already a staple food in the fight against Africa malnutrition. It is fermented for porridge and used for bread. Sorghum can even be used to make beer. This makes it a useful tool in easing Africa malnutrition because it does not entail people changing their eating habits or getting used to strange ingredients. Anything that can make sorghum nutritionally more rich should help with Africa malnutrition, which is still a significant threat to thousands of people.

Sorghum is also particularly useful for this nutritional enrichment because the crop is quite hardy in Africa’s arid climate. Genetic modification techniques that scientists are working on should be able to address the problem that sorghum naturally has, that it is low in protein and essential amino acids which are necessary for the digestion and absorption of the protein. At the moment, this contributes to Africa malnutrition, but with a few genetic modifications it could easily contribute to the solution.

Early experiments in this area have proved promising, with levels of lysine affectively increased. African scientists are involved every step of the way, so that they can be trained to develop and grow these genetically modified crops of sorghum so that the country can help itself in the fight against Africa malnutrition. It is hoped that sorghum can also be modified to contain increased levels of iron, zinc and vitamins, too.

The biotechnology is at the moment complex so if it is really to help with Africa malnutrition it will have to be scaled down so that the average farmer can use this crop. Such biotechnology has already been utilized with cotton and maize crops, so hopes are high for this to work in sorghum to have a significantly positive impact on Africa malnutrition.