Sorghum
Sorghum is the grain of Sorghum bicolor, a variable African-origin cereal used whole, milled, malted and cooked in distinct fermented foods and drinks.
Built structures · Pits and cavities
Sudanese community matmora for sorghum
matmora · matmora (Sudan)
A Prolinnova-Sudan field catalogue describes a community matmora grain pit, 1.25 m deep and holding 16 tonnes of sorghum as a drought reserve. It gives no village, diameter or construction specification.
A community sorghum reserve
A Prolinnova-Sudan catalogue identifies a community grain-store pit called a matmora. Its entry says the store held sorghum for food security in times of drought and likens it to a savings bank for a time of need. The source presents this as a local innovation documented through field research, not a standardized national granary design.
Sources for this section
Reported scale and location
The catalogue gives one example as 1.25 metres deep with capacity for 16 tonnes. It does not provide a diameter, shape, lining, roof or construction sequence, so the recorded depth and capacity should not be turned into an invented plan.
The entry is placed under the catalogue's Central region section, headed “Sinnar and Blue Nile Areas.” No village or individual storage site is named. The field catalogue describes this Sudanese case separately from the Algerian matmor/matmora association with Hamoum; the shared name does not establish identical local use or form.
Sources for this section
Limits of the record
The Prolinnova page says its exploratory Sudan field study ran around 2005–2007, but it does not date the origin of this storage practice. It supplies no grain-moisture, ventilation, pest-control or safe-entry detail. This entry records the stated storage purpose and example figures; it is not a construction or operating guide.
Sources for this section
History
Prolinnova-Sudan says the exploratory field study ran around 2005–2007; this is a documentation date, not the origin of the practice.
Site
SettingCommunity sorghum grain store pit listed under Central Sudan's Sinnar and Blue Nile areas.
GroundSubterranean pit; the source gives depth but not shape or lining.
ClimateDrought is named as the food-security context; no design response is specified.
FootprintOne example is reported as 1.25 m deep and 16 tonnes capacity; diameter and footprint are not given.
NotesThe field catalogue supplies no construction drawing, materials or closure details.
A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.
How it is built
Risks and precautions
The catalogue is a field description, not a construction or grain-safety specification.
Materials
- Earth
- The Sudanese catalogue calls this structure a matmora: a community grain-store pit used for sorghum. It describes the store as a reserve for food security during drought and compares its role to a savings bank for times of need.
- The catalogue gives one example at 1.25 metres deep with capacity for 16 tonnes. These are reported figures for that example, not a standard design. It supplies no diameter, outline, lining, roof, closure material or construction sequence, so none is inferred here.
- The entry appears in the catalogue's Central region section under “Sinnar and Blue Nile Areas.” The publication does not identify a village or the farmers who made or used this particular store.
- This Sudan field record is separate from the Algerian matmor/matmora association with Hamoum. The shared term does not make the two local accounts interchangeable; this page is limited to the Sudanese sorghum reserve described in the Prolinnova catalogue.
Places
Sinnar and Blue Nile areas
Documented use · Region evidenceThe entry is within the catalogue's “Central region / Sinnar and Blue Nile Areas” section, but no village or exact site is given.
Related
Used for
Community
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Sources
Prolinnova-SudanForm · Use · Geography · Capacity · History
Prolinnova-Sudan field study leads to catalogue of ITK/local innovationsThe catalogue calls the structure a grain-store pit (matmora) and reports a 1.25 m depth and 16-tonne sorghum capacity for one community example.
It identifies drought food security and reserve storage as the purpose; it does not give a village, diameter or construction materials.
The entry appears in the catalogue's Central region, Sinnar and Blue Nile Areas section; the surrounding text says the field study was conducted around 2005–2007.
Cited in: A community sorghum reserve; Reported scale and location; Limits of the record