Sorghum bicolor , Milo

Sorghum is a tall grass, native of  Ethiopia or Somali/Eritrea. As early as 1000-1500 BC it was cultivated in India and Pakistan, so I guess we can safely assume  it was domesticated  way before that somewhere in Africa.
It is a very drought-resistant crop, and now 109 countries are producing Sorghum commercially. It is number 5 cereal crop and about 500 million people eat it daily. In 2009,  62 098 620 tonnes were produced, leaving an average consumer with  9.12 kg of sorghum for that year. That is enough to last you 15.5 days at 2000 calories a day. Worldwide, sorghum crop of 2009 could feed 288.4 million people  with the same calorie intake. It has enough protein for over 340 million people at 50 grams a day diet.
Biggest producer and exporter (over 60% of the world's total sorghum exports) is  USA with  9 728 220 tonnes in 2009.  Biggest producer per capita is Australia with 126.5 kg produced per resident in 2009. US , Australia and Argentina have over 95% of the total sorghum export market ( about 6 million tons).

43 735 937 hectares were used for sorghum production in 2009, or 2.78 % of all arable land in the world. There is a decrease of about 5-6 % in land usage since 1961. In USA, About 15-20 000 hectares  are used to grow sorghum cane to make sorghum syrup.  Once sorghum cane is crushed for juice, you can get up to 6 250 gallons of sorghum juice from 1 hectare, which after a lot work will turn into 250 gallons of sorghum syrup.

Best crop ever  was harvested in 1985, when 77 567 348 tonnes were harvested.Worst, since 1961,  was in 1961 , 40.3 million tonnes.
Best  global yields  were in 1981,  1597.5 kg per hectare. Worst, since 1961 were in 1961 again, 889.6 kg/ha. Individual yield record belongs to Jordan , 21528.8 kg/ha (2004). Some kind of experimental field I guess.

About 900 000 tonnes of sorghum were used for seeds in 2009.


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Production by country                                 2007             2008              2009

Albania	Sorghum		M		M		M
Algeria	Sorghum	2405		1038		389
Argentina	Sorghum	2794967		2936840		1805220
Australia	Sorghum	1283009		3789931		2691789
Azerbaijan	Sorghum	0	F	11		10	*
Bangladesh	Sorghum	120		120	F		M
Belize	Sorghum	6855		10690		9326
Benin	Sorghum	117322		132448			M
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	Sorghum	336292		404446		314231
Botswana	Sorghum	25290		25290	F		M
Brazil	Sorghum	1440750		2004005		1840469
Bulgaria	Sorghum	1815		3419		1813
Burkina Faso	Sorghum	1507162		1875046			M
Burundi	Sorghum	85565	F	85565	F		M
Cameroon	Sorghum	600000	F	600000	F	600000	F
Central African Republic	Sorghum	49199	*	40791	*	50389	*
Chad	Sorghum	576571		685430			M
China	Sorghum	2434895		2502532	*	2302532	F
Colombia	Sorghum	118289		134117		96570
Costa Rica	Sorghum		M		M		M
Côte d'Ivoire	Sorghum	34379		44000			M
Croatia	Sorghum	1200	*	760	*	1130	*
Cuba	Sorghum	1069		480		297
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	Sorghum	30000	*	30000	F		M
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Sorghum	6230		6200			M
Dominican Republic	Sorghum	1472		576			M
Ecuador	Sorghum	11000	F	11000	F		M
Egypt	Sorghum	843840		866948		880000	F
El Salvador	Sorghum	129120		134230		163698
Eritrea	Sorghum	302515		302515	F		M
Ethiopia	Sorghum	2173599		2316041		2804351	*
Fiji	Sorghum	32	F	32	F		M
France	Sorghum	288431		230636		309900
Gambia	Sorghum	17951		25624		31882
Ghana	Sorghum	154830		330950		350550
Greece	Sorghum	49		50	F	50	F
Guatemala	Sorghum	51000		51000	F		M
Guinea	Sorghum	37800	F	37800	F		M
Guinea-Bissau	Sorghum	14633		18293			M
Haiti	Sorghum	120000		100000			M
Honduras	Sorghum	55807		36390		37117
Hungary	Sorghum	10021		13558		7613
India	Sorghum	7150800		7925900		7240000
Iraq	Sorghum	1000	F	1000	F		M
Israel	Sorghum	22695		18000		37500
Italy	Sorghum	193243		225582		243400
Japan	Sorghum		M		M		M
Jordan	Sorghum	993		1057		1060
Kazakhstan	Sorghum	24		24		50	*
Kenya	Sorghum	147365		54316		99000
Kyrgyzstan	Sorghum	37		1		50	*
Lebanon	Sorghum	1000	F	1000	F		M
Lesotho	Sorghum	7837		10189		10151
Madagascar	Sorghum	1200	F	1200	F		M
Malawi	Sorghum	63698		61999			M
Maldives	Sorghum	56	F	56	F		M
Mali	Sorghum	900791		1027202		1465620
Mauritania	Sorghum	79674		85595		90259	*
Mexico	Sorghum	6202920		6610900		6174900
Micronesia (Federated States of)	Sorghum	12	F	12	F		M
Morocco	Sorghum	11720		12070			M
Mozambique	Sorghum	169543		187265			M
Namibia	Sorghum	10000	F	10000	F		M
New Caledonia	Sorghum	110	F	110	F		M
Nicaragua	Sorghum	107625		74624			M
Niger	Sorghum	975223		1311100			M
Nigeria	Sorghum	9058000		9318000			M
Occupied Palestinian Territory	Sorghum	63		29			M
Oman	Sorghum	10439		10439	F		M
Pakistan	Sorghum	170000		164500		154000
Panama	Sorghum	8937		8782			M
Papua New Guinea	Sorghum	3500	F	3500	F		M
Paraguay	Sorghum	25000	F	26501		26495
Peru	Sorghum	53		125		153
Philippines	Sorghum	170		239		245	F
Republic of Korea	Sorghum	2664		1573			M
Republic of Moldova	Sorghum	97		108		100	*
Romania	Sorghum	1193		20899		14440
Russian Federation	Sorghum	40166		75610		13480
Rwanda	Sorghum	164000		144000		150000	F
Saudi Arabia	Sorghum	233000		252000			M
Senegal	Sorghum	100704		251515		224956
Serbia	Sorghum	6625		6625	F		M
Sierra Leone	Sorghum	23000	F	23000	F		M
Slovakia	Sorghum	700		764		796
Somalia	Sorghum	80000	F	80000	F		M
South Africa	Sorghum	176000		255000		276500
Spain	Sorghum	26000		29100		30400
Sri Lanka	Sorghum	160		210		180
Sudan	Sorghum	4999000		3869000		4192000
Swaziland	Sorghum	600	F	600	F		M
Syrian Arab Republic	Sorghum	4133		1476		3950
Tajikistan	Sorghum	310		140		140	F
Thailand	Sorghum	56613		55234		54378
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Sorghum		M	50	*	50	F
Togo	Sorghum	210298		226740	*		M
Tunisia	Sorghum	1200	F	1200	F		M
Turkey	Sorghum	116		114		390
Turkmenistan	Sorghum		M		M		M
Uganda	Sorghum	456000		477000		497000
Ukraine	Sorghum	78200		231800		41700
United Republic of Tanzania	Sorghum	900000	*	900000	F		M
United States of America	Sorghum	12635730		11998040		9728220
Uruguay	Sorghum	162766		151200		324200
Uzbekistan	Sorghum	14300	*	15000	*	20000	*
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	Sorghum	382116		376959			M
Yemen	Sorghum	601040		376728		311504
Zambia	Sorghum	12800		11446		21829	*
Zimbabwe	Sorghum	76200		75000			M
World + (Total)	Sorghum	62434943	A	66848250	A	62098620	A

My usual sources are fao.org, usda.gov, cia.gov, alibaba.com and  many others. Thank you for your visit.