Sweet sorghum - the next anti-diabetic sweetener

Manila, Philippines -  The Philippines is releasing to the market another anti-diabetic sweetener that may have greater export prospects than the limited volume of coconut sap sugar.  

The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) is financing the production of sweet sorghum sugar including product improvement and testing, fabrication of the milling facility, and marketing.  

The project is estimated to initially cost P4 million.  

The sweetener from sweet sorghum cane may make the Philippines known in the international market as a bigger producer of natural sweetener.  This is because sweet sorghum is drought-resistant and is suitable for planting in non-irrigated, marginal areas, according to BAR director Nicomedes P. Eleazar.  

“We hope this becomes a commercial success because there is a big need for anti-diabetic products in the local and export market. Fortunately, we have the technical capability to produce sweet sorghum with the assistance of ICRISAT,” said Eleazar.  

Private firm Bapamin Enterprise targets to produce a sample volume soon.  

“We intend to release it by August during BAR’s anniversary celebration,” said Bapamin Enterprise general manager Antonio S. Arcangel.

Since 2005, BAR has been conducting field trials of sweet sorghum varieties developed by India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). This enabled the country access to intellectual property rights over superior drought-resistant crops for use of the developing world.  

Bapamin now has a 25-hectare area planted to sweet sorghum SPV 422 variety in Batac, Ilocos Norte that gives livelihood opportunities for farmers.  SPV 22 can produce 20,000 liters per hectare. The area may be raised by 50 percent per annum once the project is in place.   

The sweetener is seen to give the Philippines a competitive advantage among anti-diabetic sweeteners since aside from being natural, it has a fine and distinctly sweet taste.  Sweetness is at a high 23 degrees Brix level, notches higher compared to sugarcane’s 17 to 18.

Just five years ago, the country gave way to the commercial release of a low-GI sweetener from coconut sap.  Since then, the Philippines’ Asian neighbors – Thailand and Indonesia – have followed production of coconut sap sugar for their own export.   

This time again, the Philippines may turn out to be the first in the world to produce powdered sweet sorghum sweetener.  

Bapamin has started talks with potential markets or distributors including  Concord which is affiliated with General Milling Corp., a company that has an export network.  

The Department of Trade and Industry is also looking at the possibility of sweet sorghum sweetener for export particularly to Japan and South Korea where the country also exports coconut sap sugar.  

But unlike in coconut sap sugar production, which is done virtually by manual methods from harvest to cooking for sugar crystallization, sweet sorghum production is mechanized.  It may be done on plantation scale; production may be scheduled, allowing for bulk volume.  

The sweetener  will be produced in sachet form.  The capacity of the processor is 10 liters per hour.  Ten liters of sweet sorghum juice will produce 1,495 sachets per hour.

Suggested retail price will be P3.50 per five gram sachet which makes it competitive.  

“We can sell within that ballpark price even if this is nutritious and natural compared to what’s (synthetic sugar) available in the market,” said Arcangel.  

It is aimed at the targeted market of anti-diabetics, travelers, food, coffee shops and others that need a fixed sweetener  volume of single packs.  

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute,  Industrial Technology Development Institute, and the Mariano Marcos State University are being tapped by BAR to carry out taste improvement and testing for the product.  Packaging is also a concern for international marketing.  

BAR is facilitating a glycemic index (GI) study of FNRI on sweet sorghum sugar. The GI study, costing P150,000, is included in BAR’s funding.  

The sorghum sweetener is expected to have a low GI level similar to that of coconut sap sugar at 35.  This is considerably lower than the 65 to 100 GI level for sugarcane sweeteners.

It is even below the GI of other sweeteners. A GI level of 54 and below is already considered low GI.   

At present, Bapamin still has no dedicated equipment for milling and other related devices, which is why it is just producing 8,000 liters per hectare.  

Arcangel, a chemical engineer, has developed a process for the sweetener  production for which he is obtaining a patent with the Intellectual Property Office. 

Bapamin is using a German-developed double jacketed processing machine to produce a sweetener in syrup form.

Producing the sorghum sweetener in powder form obviously has its advantage in portability and in shipping processes.  

To produce powdered sweetener, a special drying machine is needed. It costs P1.4 million.  

To produce the syrup, juice should be extracted from the sweet sorghum cane which will then be pasteurized and dehydrated for reducing water level.

It has a huge potential for bulk production since sweet sorghum is planted after rainfed rice and harvested twice within 200 days, while sugarcane is only a once-a-year-crop.

Yield of sweet sorghum is 60 to 70 metric tons (MT) of cane per hectare per cropping, plus another yield from the ratoon crop, while that of sugarcane is at 100 MT per hectare per cropping within 10 months.  

Sweet sorghum also has an advantage in water requirement as it only needs just one-fourth compared to the water required to grow sugarcane.