Forty-one percent of the world’s sorghum area is located in Africa, yet sorghum yields in this region are the lowest globally. Covered kernel smut (CKS) of sorghum, which is a seed-borne disease, is a major constraint to increasing yields of smallholder sorghum, threatening rural livelihoods in semi-arid areas of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) activities showed that most smallholders save their own seed. The crop is harvested and the seed heads carried to the homestead. Smutted and clean sorghum heads are often intermingled, resulting in contamination of the next season’s seed.
