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Researchers at the University of Pretoria are working on making new food products from underused African grains, like flat breads from sorghum and millet and ice cream made from cowpeas, writes Gyebi Duodu.
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What is climate-smart, gluten-free, water-wise, non-genetically modified and a nutritional powerhouse - but virtually non-existent in the daily diets of most South Africans?
The answer is indigenous African grains and pulses, such as sorghum, millets, and cowpeas.
These grains have important health-promoting and nutritional benefits and are drought-tolerant and hardy into the bargain but seldom make their way into the shopping baskets and dining tables of consumers.
Unlike maize and wheat, which are not indigenous to Africa, they are less known and relatively underutilised.
The time is ripe to bring African grains and pulses into the public spotlight and, hopefully, the culinary mainstream.
World Food Day, which took place on Monday, 16 October, focuses our attention on food and the bigger issues surrounding it - especially the importance of safeguarding food security at a time when the food sources we take for granted are under siege from a host of climate-induced factors.
Look no further than the estimated R1.4 billion in crop losses in the Western Cape after the floods of September 2023.
READ | Counting the losses: Cape storm causes crop and infrastructure damage worth an estimated R1.4bn
Further afield, much of sub-Saharan Africa (particularly east and southern Africa) is already experiencing acute food insecurity stressors as a result of drought.
Now, the unpredictable El Niño climate system has arrived, adding to the uncertainty over what lies ahead.
African grains have much to offer but are still sidelined
In this volatile environment, African grains could make a significant contribution to boosting food security on the continent - provided they receive the attention they deserve from governments, farmers, retailers, marketers, and consumers.
Sorghum food products, for instance, are not exempt from value-added tax (VAT) in South Africa, whereas maize is.
This VAT burden is even though sorghum has an excellent nutritional profile and is rich in bioactive components with health-promoting properties linked to potential to protect against non-communicable diseases like cancers and diabetes.
Yet despite its potential to promote food security, health and good nutrition, there are indications the sorghum industry in South Africa is languishing.
Alarm bells ring over declining consumption
Over the past almost three decades, there has been a steady decline in per capita consumption of sorghum in South Africa.
Consumption almost trebled between 1960 and the late 1980s, reaching a peak of 620 000 metric tonnes in 1988 before falling to levels last seen in the 1960s.
Sorghum production has also declined, especially in the past 10 years, with South Africa shifting from being a net exporter of the crop to a net importer.
These alarming trends are outlined in a 2021 report from the Department of Science and Innovation, based on a two-year study on the needs and challenges of the sorghum industry in South Africa.
An outcome of this study is the establishment of a Sorghum Cluster Initiative, which is tasked with looking into ways to revitalise the sorghum industry.International interest grows in African grains
Interestingly, sorghum and other African grains are attracting increasing attention internationally, and there are signs these grains are on the ascent.
There is growing demand for sorghum in Europe, for instance, by virtue of its gluten-free qualities, among others.
Sorghum is also the sole subject of an international conference, the Global Sorghum Conference, which was held in Montpellier, France, in June 2023 and focused on its resilience and sustainability in the face of climate change.
Meanwhile, the millets are also on the rise.
The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation has declared 2023 the International Year of Millets (varieties of millet having been grown in parts of Africa for around 4 000 years).
We at the University of Pretoria's department of consumer and food sciences are guided by the belief that underutilised African grains present us with unique opportunities for developing various new and exciting food products from these grains, and these products can be leveraged to place the grains in the spotlight.
Thus, we are hard at work doing research on various food uses of underutilised African grains, as well as their nutritional and health-promoting properties.
Some food products we are working on include breakfast cereals, baked goods and, flatbreads from sorghum and millet, and even ice cream made from cowpeas (also known as black-eyed peas).
Nutritious, health-promoting and climate-smart, African grains have great potential to make a contribution to food security. They represent an opportunity not to be wasted.
- Professor Gyebi Duodu is head of the department of consumer and food sciences at the University of Pretoria.
