Sorghum Remains With Area Reduction in Brazil

Years ago the expectation was that sorghum crop would have an increasing expansion in Brazil.  Unfortunately this did not happen and on the last years sorghum is suffering an area reduction.

Several facts are negatively affecting the sorghum crop, and there is no indication that we will have an increase on planted area.

The map below shows the major concentration of sorghum crop in Brazil. The center region where we can see a big concentration area is the region of growing grain sorghum. The crop in this region is usually a winter crop (or “dry season”) crop and they are planted after farmers finishing their second corn crop.

The graphic below indicates the sorghum planted area (hectares) and production (tons) and yield in kilos per hectare.

Grain sorghum represents the largest area in sorghum in Brazil followed by sorghum for silage and for grazing. New trends are sweet sorghum and biomass for energy production.

In view of tropical conditions in Brazil, sorghum crops have the negative impacts of pests and diseases. Foliar diseases as Anthracnose (Colletotrichum graminicola),  helminthosporium turcicum and Rust (Puccinia purpurea) are  usually present in the fields in different regions.

Anthracnose (first in the leaf and on the right side, in the field) is one of the main disease´s problem due to the fact it has more than 20 different races, and for sure, requires hybrids with some tolerance.

Grain sorghum is, in general, cultivated by professional growers in the Center area of Brazil and so, the crops are entirely mechanized.

Brazil has a good experience in sorghum seed production and a very high percentage of seeds sold in the country are from the national production.

See below a seed production field.