To address poverty among sorghum farmers, Africa Harvest is partnering with the East Africa Breweries Ltd to link sorghum farmers to this major alcohol producer. The project has been designed to develop a commercially sustainable source of

raw materials for East Africa’s leading brewer and fast-track establishment of a sorghum value chain for Kenya.  
This project marks the beginning of commercialization of sorghum in the country. Sorghum in Kenya could well be an orphaned crop with little, uncoordinated support to farmers compared to other crops. Farmers receive seed well into the planting season, with barely any support for other inputs such as fertilizers and extension services.
Sorghum farmers, who are generally in the arid and semi-arid zones of the country, typically grow crop the crop for subsistence. They produce red sorghum which is good for eating, but not for brewing.
Africa Harvest’s thrust in this project is therefore to develop an effective and sustainable supply chain for sorghum.
Objectives

• To study and generate information on the sorghum market including its structure, sorghum pricing, collection and transportation issues in order ensure that the brewer is an attractive proposition to sorghum farmers
• To manage brewer-preferred and farmer-preferred sorghum so farmers supple the brewer exactly the type and quality of grain desired for beer making
• To provide the research and development support for sustainable variety development to ensure a robust, efficient supply chain that works for all players
•  To explore and identify new areas for cost-effectively producing sorghum
• To study the potential and viability of developing a sorghum seed sector in Kenya, and alternative options for seed sourcing