The importance of sorghum for South Africa

Sorghum is indigenous to Africa's savannahs and there is archaeological evidence in the Sahara of its use 8 000 years ago. Dr Laura Pereira, associate professor at the Global Change Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, argues that sorghum should be reinvigorated as a crop and a key foodstuff.

- Dr Laura Pereira

"The world's food systems have developed in a way that is not serving health and sustainability.

People are increasingly eating industrially produced foods that are low in nutrients and high in fats and sugars. For example, in South Africa between 2005 and 2010, sales of snack bars, ready meals, and noodles all rose by more than 40%. These are associated with increasing levels of obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes.

The diets of people living in poverty are typically monotonous, dominated by refined grains with an impact on nutrition, especially for children. Healthy diets remain unaffordable for most South Africans.

The way food is produced, processed, and transported also has environmental impacts. Among these are loss of biodiversity, high levels of water extraction, and greenhouse gas emissions.

At the heart of the food system's problems is a lack of diversity. Power is consolidated in the hands of a few megacorporations. Growing single crops in a big area makes them susceptible to shocks. And the world relies on four main staple crops (wheat, rice, maize and soya bean) to meet most food needs.

There have been widespread calls for the food system to change. The question is how.

In our research project on sustainable and healthy food systems, we set out to explore some options. We looked at the South African, English, and Indian food systems and how they could become more sustainable, healthy, and fair. In particular, we explored how to make these systems more diverse by growing local and indigenous foods.