Kafir
Kafir, an annual plant that resembles the corn plant in having a stout, pithy stem and broad leaves. Although it is a variety of sorghum, it is often called kafir corn. The grains, unlike those of corn, are borne in a long, thick panicle (cluster) at the tip of the stem. The plant was introduced into the United States from Africa in 1876.
Drought-resistant, kafir is grown chiefly in the Southwest, where the climate is too dry to grow corn. In this area kafir is extensively used as a source of grain for feeding livestock and poultry. It is planted in rows, cultivated much like corn, and harvested with a combine.
Kafir is also used to some extent for silage for beef and dairy cattle. When used for this purpose it is cut and chopped in the field by silage-harvesting equipment and stored in a silo. In parts of Africa the grains are cooked or ground into flour.
Kafir is Sorghum vulgare caffrorum of the grass family, Gramineae.