After some 18 months of frantic planning and organization, the first global conference of the new millennium devoted almost exclusively to sorghum “Sorghum in the 21st Century - Food, Feed and Fuel in a Rapidly Changing World” took place in Cape Town from 9-12 April 2018. What made this conference so exciting is that it was the first global sorghum conference to be hosted in over 30 years and it was to be hosted on African grounds.

Sorghum, like maize, is a tropical C4 type cereal which originated in Africa.  It is the world’s 5^th most important cereal crop.  Its great advantage is that it is uniquely well-adapted to cultivation under Africa’s harsh climatic conditions. As such, it has huge potential in South Africa and in other arid countries across the world where climate-change is already impacting negatively on agriculture.

The sorghum conference was organized locally by a committee made up of all the major institutions involved in sorghum R&D in South Africa. This was chaired by Prof John Taylor senior lecturer at University of Pretoria, Department of Consumer and Food Sciences and Honorary President and Past President of the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC). The conference international organizing committee was chaired by Prof Timothy Dalton, Director of the USAID Feed the Future Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab (SMIL) based at Kansas State University, The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research in Sorghum and Millet (SMIL) and University of Pretoria (UP) were the conference co-hosts. 

Some 500 people participated in the 4-day conference, with delegates coming from across Africa and from the USA, China, India, Japan, Australia and Brazil. The conference also attracted several European counties as far north as Finland, where sorghum is unlikely to become a major crop unless global warming is really severe. There were many scientific highlights, notably an opening plenary where Prof Mark Cooper of the University of Queensland showed that the Prediction Agriculture technology has the potential to eliminate the increasing global food security gap between grain production and population growth, and Prof Joseph Awika of Texas A&M University who explained that the unique phytochemicals in sorghum could help alleviate the pandemic of non-communicable diseases like type-2 diabetes. 

On the second evening, the NRF hosted a Science for Society Lecture entitled “Sorghum for Food and Nutrition Security in Southern Africa”. Prof Gebisa Ejeta, a sorghum breeder from Purdue University and 2009 World Food Prize laureate, was the guest lecturer.  His theme was that it is now the time for African scientists to take ownership of the sorghum research and development agenda.  Prof Riëtte de Kock, 2017 SA Women in Science awardee, responded on behalf of southern Africa with a thought-provoking talk focused on the food wants and needs of today’s consumer. She told a very amusing story that a few weeks ago in a field by the road she had for the first time seen “one of the Big Five”, not a rhino but a sorghum crop.  The evening concluded with an expert panel discussion (see photo), which also included Prof Gyebi Duodu, who together with the NRF organized the event. 

A major focus of the conference was community outreach, highlights being the participation by a group of emerging commercial sorghum farmers from the Eastern Cape and the hosting of thirty 15-16 year old school learners from disadvantaged communities around Cape Town. The student chapter of the organizing committee entertained the learners with illustrated presentations on sorghum science and technology and a sorghum quiz, and. Prof Ejeta who is a former US presidential science ambassador gave a wonderful motivational talk about his upbringing in a village in Ethiopia and the importance to success of studying and believing in yourself. 

A special note of appreciation goes to our vice-principal Prof Stephanie Burton who came down to Cape Town especially to deliver an opening address on behalf of the University of Pretoria.