AfricaRice Director General Dr Harold Roy-Macauley made a presentation on “Achieving rice self-sufficiency in Africa,” which served as a basis for an in-depth discussion by a panel of speakers consisting of Mr Ade Adefeko, Vice President and Head of Corporate and Government Relations at Olam-Nigeria; Mr Pieter Grobler, Head of Land Development at Dangote Rice Limited; and Mr Busuyi Okeowo, Deputy Team Leader at Growth & Employment in States (GEMS 4), Nigeria. The panel discussion was organized as part of the Third Edition of the Agra Innovate West Africa Conference, on 23 November 2016 in Lagos, Nigeria, with support from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG).

1. Achieving self-sufficiency in rice in Africa
Dr Harold Roy-Macauley
Director General
Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice)
www.AfricaRice.org

2. Importance of rice in SSA: facts & figures
• A strategic and political crop in SSA: demand growing at more than 6% per
year – faster than for any other food staple in SSA
• Most important dietary energy source in West Africa and Madagascar and
2nd most important in Africa
• A pathway out of poverty, employment opportunities for young men and
women entering job markets

3. • Before the 70s several countries in Africa were self-sufficient
in rice and even exported surplus to the region: Madagascar,
Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea, RDC, etc.,
• Beyond the 70s: These countries became net importers of
rice
• Why? World Bank and FMI restructuring ? Complacency of
African governments ? Availability of huge quantities of cheap
rice from Asia?
SSA: from food exporter to importer

4. Case for rice self-sufficiency in Africa
• 2007/2008 food (rice) crisis
• Restriction on rice export for
their own food security in
2007/2008 - India, Vietnam,
Pakistan and Brazil
• Increase in international
trading price of rice by more
than 300% - from US$ 300 to
US$ 1,200 per ton in just 4
months
• Soaring rice prices led to riots in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire,
Egypt, Senegal, Mali…

5. Case for rice self-sufficiency in SSA
• Africa spends about US$ 5 billion
dollars on rice import annually
• Diversion of valuable foreign
exchange - Nigeria imported
about 3 million tons of rice in
2015, at US$ 850 million
• Emerging opportunities
• China has become a big rice
importer - US$ 1.5 billion in 2015
• Climate change: yield losses in
rice estimated between 10 and
15%
Rice and wheat account for one-fifth of
all agricultural imports in SSA

6. 0.49
0.91
0.57
0.96
0.80
0.88
0.25
0.77
0.39
0.32
0.20
0.40
0.18
0.05
0.30
0.31
0.19
0.63
0.67
0.31
0.64
0.05
0.49
Rice self-sufficiency rate in some countries

7. Rice self-sufficiency: a complex concept in SSA
• Rice consumption is strongly linked to population growth
rate, particularly urban population
• As SSA’s Africa’s population explodes, so will the
population of rice eaters on the continent
• Rice self-sufficiency targets set by several countries:
Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire by 2017; Nigeria by 2018;
• But strong lobby of importers in many SSA countries

8. Multiple challenges to rice self-sufficiency
• Huge yield gap: about 1.4 t / ha
compared to 3.4 t / ha (worldwide)
• Continued use of old varieties
• Poor water management capacity
• Low mechanization use by
smallholders
• Low incentive for farmers (credits)
• Limited access to markets
• Weak links between rice value
chain actors - especially the
private sector
• Climate change
• Inadequate implementation of
policies to boost the sector

9. Can SSA be rice self-sufficient?
Significant progress made
• Mali, Madagascar, Guinea and
Sierra Leone already near self-
sufficiency
• FAO: Africa paddy production in
2016 at 29.7 MT (19.4 MT milled
rice) a new record
• Unprecedented rice production and
yield growth rates in SSA between
2007-2012 - due to R&D efforts
and government investments
• AfricaRice vision: help Africa
achieve 90% rice self-sufficiency by
2020

10. Scalable innovations along the rice value chain

11. Varieties
> 200 improved rice varieties released
in last 30 years in Africa:
• ARICA varieties: high-performing and climate-
smart
• NERICA varieties: area under upland
NERICAs : 1.7 million ha; adoption has lifted
about 8 million people out of poverty in 16
countries
• Sahel varieties: high-yielding for irrigated
ecologies: In Senegal, average yield increased
by 872 kg per ha and incomes by $227 per
cropping season; present value of net benefits
of Sahel adoption $ 24.6 million
• Hybrids: More than 50 developed by
AfricaRice show 15-20% yield advantage
compared with inbred check. Two hybrids
selected for release in Senegal in 2016

12. Some mega varieties
Variety name Ecology Yield (t/ha) Aroma
ARICA 1 Lowland 6.0
ARICA 3 Lowland 7.8
ARICA 5 Upland 3.8
NERICA 1 Upland 4.5
NERICA 4 Upland 4.5
NERICA 6 Upland 4.5
NERICA L-19 Lowland 6.0
NERICA L-20 Lowland 6.0
ORYLUX 1 Irrigated 8.0 Aromatic
ORYLUX 3 Irrigated 6.3 Aromatic
ORYLUX 6 Irrigated 6.5 Aromatic

13. Good agricultural practices (GAP)
basket development
Intervention Typical farmers’ practice and
problems
GAP component
Variety choice Old varieties New varieties
Land preparation Not bunded, not well leveled Bunding & leveling
Sowing Random transplanting & delayed
sowing
Transplanting at optimum density and
time
Weeding Single herbicide & two hand-
weedings
Single herbicide & weeding with
mechanical weeder
Fertilizer application Very variable Site-specific nutrient management
Water management Permanent standing water Timing of drainage before harvesting

14. Crop management decision support tool:
RiceAdvice
• Allows rice farmers to apply mineral fertilizer more
efficiently to optimize production and profits and
reduce waste
• Helps rice farmers identify the best option for
fertilizers to be purchased, based on nutrient
requirement and fertilizer prices
• Farmers can increase rice yield by about 20%
and increase their profit margin by about $200
per hectare per season

15. Weed management decision support
• Total rice production losses
attributable to weeds in
SSA estimated at US$ 1.5
billion
• Tool for identifying major
rice weeds of Africa
• Valuable resource for
professionals involved in
research, training and
management of rice weeds
in SSA

16. Improved land & water management
Smart-valleys approach
• A low-cost, participatory and sustainable
approach to develop inland valleys for
rice-based systems
• Major advantages: increased water
retention in farmers’ fields, less risk of
fertilizer losses due to flooding and
increased rice yields
• In Togo and Benin, average rice yields
of farmers using Smart-valleys approach
more than doubled from 1.5–2 to 3.5–
4.5 t/ha
• Impact studies indicate the potential
adoption rate is 67%

17. Mechanization
• Motorized weeders
• Threshers
• Combine harvesters

18. Improved quality of processed rice - GEM rice parboiler
• Energy-efficient, shortens processing time, reduces drudgery, and does not expose
the women parboilers to heat burns
• Training and innovation platform approach: improving the livelihood of more than a
1000 rural women in Benin and Nigeria
• More than doubling average monthly production of and income from parboiled rice
produced
Milling machine

19. From production focus to value chain focus
Pioneering work on experimental
auctions and value chain
development in Senegal
Packaging, branding and labeling of
locally produced rice for urban and
niche markets to enhance consumer
attractiveness to locally produced rice
in Glazou IP Parboiled rice “Riz Saveur” in Glazoue IP

20. Private sector: partners for scaling up
• Bringing together small-to-medium (SMEs) seed
enterprises and scientists
• Collaborating with private sector on certified and quality
rice seed production
• FASO KABA in Mali,
• NASECO Seed Company in partnership with NARO in
Uganda;
• NAFASO in Burkina Faso
• ASI thresher manufacturing in partnership with private
sector/SME blacksmiths in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal

22. Youth entrepreneurship in rice value chain:
conceptual framework
• Competence and skills
for youths and women in
agribusiness enhanced
• Significant return on
investment when
improved rice
technologies, innovations
and services are combined
• Coaching & mentoring
youth and women to take
lead role in modernizing
the rice sector
Quality rice seed
AWM
SMART-valleys
Weeders
RiceAdvice ASI Thresher
GEM rice
Parboiler Packaging
Branding

23. Contribution to Nigeria’s Rice Transformation
Agenda (RTA)
• AfricaRice has provided major inputs into the rice component of
Nigeria’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda:
• Secondment of 3 experts to the Rice Value Chain (unit) of the
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD)
• AfricaRice’s best technologies were given for adoption in Nigeria
• Support to seed supply and seed systems development
• Support to rice-sector mechanization.
• Training and other capacity-development inputs
THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK HAS REQUESTED AFRICARICE TO
LEAD THE SUPPORT TO COUNTIRES IN ACHIEVING RICE-SELF-
SUFFICIENCY IN AFRICA THROUGH DEVELOPMENT OF A CONTINENTAL
RICE SELF-SUFFIIENCY PLAN
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SUPPORT FROM ALL STAKEHOLDRS

24. Thank you