Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, on Thursday, November 24 disclosed multinational confectionery companies now prefer Nigeria’s sorghum grits to make alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages including breakfast cereals.
Dr Abubakar made this statement at Abuja on Thursday during the presentation of report by Sorghum Technical Committee to streamline the existing varieties to meet food and industrial demand also said that other food products which sorghum serves as one of the ingredients are Indomie, spaghetti and macaroni as well as non-food industrial use of it grits in aluminium – ore refining, animal feeds, building materials and in foundry binders.
According to him, the development followed federal government’s resolve to continue to promote sorghum production and value addition to ensure self-sufficiency and cater for industrial demand of the country.
He further described the development as a way of boosting farmers’ income, encouraging more youth to embrace sorghum cultivation to achieve food security ambition of the current administration and contribute to the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He revealed, “The prevalence of many varieties and cultivars was identified as the major problem leading to low sorghum productivity resulting in the supply shortfall, the varieties in most cases are not what are needed by our food industries, this necessitated the need to streamline the existing varieties in order to meet our food and industrial needs.”
