Exciting Farming! Sugar From Sorghum: New Research Project

In the Sorghum production areas of the United States of America and India for many years now, farmers had been producing Sugar Syrup from Sorghum.
There is a Sorghum variety called Sweet Sorghum which has succulent stalks which when crushed and pressed produce juice which could be processed to Syrup.
The Sweet Sorghum variety was developed in the U.S. and our American partner, Scott Seeds Company of Hereford, Texas, has developed a hybrid which contains a lot of sugar in its stalks.
The good thing is that while the Sweet Sorghum variety does not produce as much Grains as the variety intended for Grains production, farmers could still harvest a respectable volume.
But even in the common Sorghum variety which we now propagate, the White Sorghum, there is a huge amount of sugar in the stalks.
Kidapawan City Mayor Jose Paolo Evangelista who visited the Sorghum Demo Farm in Barangay Paco, Kidapawan City on Dec. 27 confirmed that the juice from the stalk tasted like “Stevia.”
While our young company, the Southseas Agri-Aqua Ventures, Inc., which I and former Senator Ping Lacson formed along with several friends in 2022, is only involved in Grains Production, I will personally start a research on Sugar Syrup production from Sorghum.
It may take years before we could develop a new industry which produces Sugar Syrup from Sorghum but starting a research now will pave the way for the discovery of new income opportunities for our farmers.
In the future, this new industry could also contribute to the production of sugar for our food processing industries and since Sorghum could be easily propagated, there is the potential of large-scale production.
This is going to be an exciting journey in developing a crop which offers varied uses and offers many benefits for farmers – grains, silage and sugar.

#farmingisendlesslearning!
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
(Video taken by Ernesto Casumpang, SAAVI.)