France, Sept. 20 -- Sorghum is the world's fifth most important cereal crop, after wheat, maize, rice and barley.

It is widely grown across sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia for human consumption, while elsewhere - particularly in the Americas - it is also extensively used as animal feed.

Interest in the crop is growing in France, which in 2024 became Europe's largest producer with some 103,000 hectares cultivated, according to the Chamber of Agriculture.

In Essonne, south of Paris, fields of wheat and rapeseed stretch out almost endlessly. Yet among the yellow and gold squares, a four-hectare patch of green and red stands out.

"We are in the middle of a sorghum field," Eudes Coutte, a French sorghum grower, told RFI. "It looks lik...