Exploring wide crosses and derived crop biodiversity for climate resilience and food and nutrition security in Eastern and Southern Africa

This report provides a baseline imnformation on sorghum and pearl millet productivity, agronomic and best practices in two countries in east and southern Africa: Uganda and Zimbabwe. In Uganda, the study districts were Adjumani and Arua in west Nile. In Zimbabwe, the study was conducted in the province of Matebeleland in the districts of Bulilima and Insiza. Two sub counties were selected per district in Uganda and Zimbabwe respectively. Several production and marketing characteristics and households’ variables were selected including household decision making on production aspects.

A total of 359 respondents participated in the baseline survey. Many of the crop farmers that were interviewed were women. The mean age of respondents was higher in Zimbabwe than in Uganda.

Major crops grown in Uganda include sorghum, cassava, and maize. In Zimbabwe, maize, sorghum, groundnuts and pearl millet were reported as major crops.

Several varieties of sorghum were preferred by farmers including improved varieties in Zimbabwe. The most commonly grown improved variety in Zimbabwe was Macia. In Uganda, the preferred sorghum improved varieties gown included SERENA and NAROSOG-2 while variety “GODO” was the preferred local variety. In conclusion, there is a potential to improve the production systems for sorghum, and millets in east and southern Africa because of the dual-purpose nature of the crops in question. Women predominantly grow these crops. The crops are valued for food and sale for income, which shows that sorghum and millets, are highly underutilized in the study sites. Furthermore, potential exists in the use of improved production methods for sorghum and millet with producers showing inclination to adopting and utilizing improved varieties.

 This baseline report was developed as part of the project “Exploring wide crosses derived crop biodiversity (sorghum x maize) for climate resilience and food and nutrition security in Eastern and Southern Africa” funded by the Benefit Sharing Fund (BSF) of the International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN).