Since February, in Muyinga province, a Ugandan company called JitMat Ltd has started construction activities for an agri-food industry which will produce various products, including sugar made from white sorghum. In December 2023, the minister in charge of agriculture announced that this company would support the production of sugar in large quantities. Is it possible to extract sugar from white sorghum? Could this be the solution to the sugar shortage that has been observed in Burundi for years?
On Rukinzo hill in Gasorwe commune of Muyinga province, a sorghum-based sugar production factory will be built. The construction site for this factory has been underway since beginning of the year. This innovative project is the initiative of a Ugandan company JitMat Ltd. The latter aims to promote sorghum by exploiting its multiple uses, notably the production of sugar, ethanol and animal feed.
The company manager reassures that white sorghum contains a level of sucrose in its stems. This makes it a suitable source for sugar production. And to reassure that cutting-edge processing units will be put in place. The project will extract, refine and package sugar for local consumption and export.
According to our sources at Isabu, sorghum is a cereal and fodder grass of tropical origin which includes several species. The sorghum plant is believed to have been domesticated in Burundi from East Africa. Usually, sorghum is grown in Burundi for its grain used in human food. Malted and closed, it is consumed in the form of an alcoholic drink (sorghum beer).
It remains to see and taste this sorghum sugar. Burundians usually consume sugar from cane. The Minister in charge of Agriculture, Ir Prosper Dodiko announced, in December 2023, that this company will support the production of sugar in large quantities. Are we going to forget the shortage of sugar produced by Sosumo? Let us remember that the latter holds a monopoly on the production and import of sugar until today.
An expert tells us a lot
According to Professor Pascal Kakana, plants store sugars which provide energy. Sugars are also energy reserves for plants. But there are plants called starchy plants that don’t retain the same types of sugar. For example, potatoes contain starch reserves. Sugar canes are full of sucrose. This is why when we consume sugar cane, we notice the taste of sugar.
Starchy plants contain sucrose at a high level. Pascal Kakana indicates that the composition rate which is profitable for producing sugar is 10 to 16%. Only sugar cane, which lives in tropical countries, and sugar beets, in temperate countries, contain sucrose at a sufficient level, he specifies. “ Besides, we could not talk about sorghum sugar, but rather the sugar from the sorghum stem”, nuance Professor Kakana. For him, it could be that there are varieties of white sorghum, whose energy reserves contain sucrose in their stems.
« About the stem of sorghum, whether red or white, there is sucrose, but in a small quantity. Perhaps there are varieties that have sucrose at a higher level compared to other varieties grown in Burundi », he explains while adding that with the varieties currently grown in Burundi, it is practically impossible.
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2024-03-01 11:03:25