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Commercialization of Sorghum Milling in Botswana: Trends and Prospects

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/1093/
 
Title Commercialization of Sorghum Milling in Botswana: Trends and Prospects
 
Creator Rohrbach, D
Mupanda, K
Seleka, T
 
Subject Sorghum
 
Description Commercial sorghum processing in Botswana has grown rapidly during the past decade. The number of sorghum
millers has increased four-fold, and sorghum meal has become competitive with maize in urban and rural food
markets.
In early 1999, ICRISAT conducted a study of the factors underlying this growth, and the prospects for further
market expansion. The study showed that growth was driven largely by four factors: the traditional consumer
preference for sorghum meal; strong financial support to millers from the government; the availability of reliable,
high-quality supplies of grain; and effective promot ion of processing technology by a parastatal agency.
However, development of the milling industry had little impact on domestic sorghum production. Productivity in
Botswana remains too low for the crop to compete with South African imports, and only 2% of the industry's
grain purchases are grown domestically.
Key issues likely to affect future expansion include the identification of alternative sources of grain supplies
(e.g. Zimbabwe); improvements in product promot ion, market intelligence, and product differentiation (e.g.
targeting distinct products for breakfast porridge vs stiff porridge); and the prospects for industry consolidation
into a few larger millers. While the Botswana case is not specifically replicable in neighboring countries, the
stimulus created by linking technology, finance, and raw material supply offers important lessons for the
development of commercial crop processing throughout southern Africa.
 
Publisher International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
 
Date 2000
 
Type Monograph
NonPeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/1093/1/RA_00363.pdf
Rohrbach, D and Mupanda, K and Seleka, T (2000) Commercialization of Sorghum Milling in Botswana: Trends and Prospects. Manual. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.