Growing sorghum in the dry season

In countries such as Niger, Cameroon and Chad, sorghum is sown along rivers and streams and by the side of lakes at the end of the rainy season.

When the rain stops, the water subsides along the river banks and lake sides, but the soil, which is rather clayey, retains water and remains moist. Sorghum is then sown on this moist earth. The sorghum grows during the dry season by taking up the water that remains in the soil. The sorghum becomes ripe during or at the end of the dry season. Thus, there is a sorghum harvest just before the hungry season.

Sorghum can also be started in nurseries. The seed is sown on a little plot which is watered. At the end of the rainy season when the water subsides, the young sorghum plants are lifted and transplanted to river banks or lake sides. The sorghum ripens in the middle of the dry season.

Sorghum grown during the dry season is called Berbere in Chad and Mouskouari in northern Cameroon.

Supplementary Note