When Dutch brewer Heineken and British drinks group Diageo teamed up with a non-profit organisation to help African farmers grow sorghum, little did they realise that their social experiment would turn into a sustainable business. The project aims to establish a sustainable production chain, and to show local farmers that there is a long term future in growing sorghum.
Heineken and Diageo, which owns the stout brand Guinness, started work with Brussels-based European Co-operative for Rural Development more than a year ago on a five-year project to encourage farmers to produce sorghum in Ghana and Sierra Leone.
For both companies, which make beer as well as non-alcoholic drinks from malted barley throughout Africa, the project was a chance to develop local sources of agricultural raw materials and also to help local economies.
Both companies have been importing barley into many of the African countries - the grain traditionally used to brew beer - to make their drinks. Although barley is one of the world's most common grains, it is not widely grown in Africa since it grows best in countries with cooler climates such as Russia and Canada.
But transportation costs and the rocketing price of malting barley, because of strong global demand, have made importing barley to Africa more expensive than ever. Hence the appeal of making beer with locally produced grains such as sorghum.
Henk Knipscheer, managing director of Eucord, says the rise in malting barley prices was not anticipated by the companies when they became involved in the project: "What started as a social responsibility project is now commercially rather attractive."
Although African farmers have long grown sorghum, a hardy crop that grows easily in poor soils and is used in porridge and beer, big brewers such as Heineken and Diageo have been reluctant to become reliant on local farmers. They were unsure whether farmers could produce the right variety, and whether they could ensure consistent supply.
The project, which has received some $2.8m in funding from the Common Fund for Commodities - a branch of the United Nations - as well as Heineken and Diageo, aims to establish a sustainable production chain so the companies can rely on getting supplies from local farmers. It also aims to show farmers that there is a long-term future in growing sorghum. "Farmers need to build confidence that the market is there," Mr Knipscheer says.
Eucord has been training farmers in cultivation methods aimed at increasing yields and arranging access to finance so they can buy seeds and fertilisers. It has also organised the farmers into groups since grain traders do not like buying grain from individual farmers.
In Ghana, where some 1,000 farmers are involved in the project, the group surpassed its initial target of 800 tonnes of sorghum by 100 tonnes at the end of the first growing season. Sierra Leone had 2,000 farmers in the project but produced only 40 tonnes. However, this year Sierra Leone expects to produce 150 tonnes.
Heineken is delighted with the results of the project, particularly in Sierra Leone, where expectations had been lower. Thomas de Man, Heineken's regional president for Africa and the Middle East, says: "You see an economy growing around farming."
Heineken first made beer with sorghum in Nigeria in the early 1990s after the country banned imports of malt barley, and two years ago it started building a sorghum malting plant in Nigeria. The plant will be up and running shortly.
It now makes beer wholly or partly with sorghum in five African countries - Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Burundi - selling it under brands such as Star or Gulder, and sees potential for making beer with sorghum in other parts of Africa and possibly on other continents.
"This is a technology that will fit us in countries where it is an important crop or where we see a similar opportunity," Mr de Man says. Heineken does not sell sorghum-brewed beer under its core Heineken brand.
Diageo, which brews Guinness Foreign Extra Stout in some 28 locations around Africa, only makes it with sorghum in Nigeria (and now Ghana and Sierra Leone). But if the trial in Sierra Leone is successful it will try to brew the stout with sorghum in as many African countries as possible. It claims local consumers cannot taste the difference between Guinness brewed with sorghum and Guinness brewed with barley.
Beer brewed with sorghum is also becoming more popular in other parts of the world. Anheuser-Busch introduced what it said was the first "nationally available" sorghum-brewed beer, called Redbridge, in the US a year ago to provide a beer for people allergic to wheat or barley.
Redbridge follows other sorghum beers from microbreweries, such as the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, which started production of New Grist sorghum beer more than two years ago.
Lakefront created the beer for people with wheat allergies, but found that it was liked by all kinds of people - particularly women, who appreciate the beer's sweeter taste. New Grist is now Lakefront's best-selling brand, finding a niche as so-called craft beer become more popular in the US.
Russ Klisch, president of Lakefront, says: "With craft beer, the movement is to different ingredients and different tastes and flavours . . sorghum is now becoming one of the many ingredients home brewers want to experiment with."
