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 As
concern builds around the impact of rising food prices and
new restrictions on rice exports from Asian countries hit by
adverse climate conditions, the Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (Agra) announced that African rice
breeders have made critical steps towards ensuring
self-sufficiency and boosting African rice production. The
successful development and release of stress-tolerant upland
and lowland irrigated rice varieties has begun to
significantly increase rice production in some countries,
including Uganda.
“African rice consumption exceeds production.
Only 54 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s rice consumption is
supplied locally,” said Agra programme officer Jane Ininda
at the Kampala meeting. “Farmers need new high-yielding,
locally adapted varieties to raise rice yield and turn
around Africa’s food crisis situation. Governments should
develop policies that speed up the breeding and distribution
of new varieties. There is need for urgent action here.”
The demand for rice in sub-Saharan Africa is
double the rate of population growth. The rice consumption
rate is growing faster than that of any other major food
staple. But rather than substantially increasing local
production, demand for imports has surged.
The announcement was made at the inaugural
meeting of the Rice Breeders Network, a consortium of
eminent rice breeders, researchers, and seed companies from
more than 10 African countries. Recent advances are largely
a result of funding from the Nairobi-based Agra, which also
announced ambitious plans to support the development and
release of new rice varieties in Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda,
Mali, Nigeria and Malawi that will ultimately boost regional
food security, and reduce Africa’s over-reliance on rice
imports from Asia.
Recent successes and future efforts focus on
breeding locally adapted varieties of “Nerica” rice, which
is a resilient, high-yielding cross of an African and Asian
rice species. Breeders of Nerica rice won the World Food
Prize in 2004. As an “upland” rice, Nerica is not restricted
to growing in paddies, thus enabling African farmers to grow
rice in places that no one before thought possible. But to
make use of Nericas, farmers need locally adapted varieties
that are early maturing, disease resistant, have the aroma
and taste that local communities prefer, and have “spikes”
that protect the rice from hungry birds.
“As long as Africa depends on imports for
meeting its food demands, it will experience food crises as
the costs continue to rise for consumers“, said Dr Namanga
Ngongi, Agra’s president. “We must boost local production.
We must grow our own food.“
Agra is a partnership-based organisation that
works across sub-Saharan Africa to end rural poverty and
hunger by increasing the productivity and sustainability of
smallholder farming. Its support of the Rice Breeders
Network is part of a comprehensive approach that embraces
everything from the development and distribution of
high-quality seeds, to improving soil health and
agricultural education, and developing markets and
infrastructure for agriculture.
The Rice Breeders Network hosted their first
meeting in Uganda, which has scored recent successes in
developing upland varieties and getting them into the hands
of farmers.
In March 2004, President Yoweri Museveni
launched the Upland Rice Project with support from United
Nations Development Program (UNDP). Since then, rice farming
in Uganda has grown from 4,000 farmers in 2004 to over
35,000 in 2007 and the acreage for rice growing areas has
increased dramatically.
In addition, Uganda has reduced its rice
importation from 60,000 metric tons (MT) in 2005 to 35,000
MT in 2007, saving Ugandans roughly $30 million (approx.
Shs49.5 billion) in the process, according to the Ugandan
National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro).
Speaking at the meeting, Dr Dennis Kyetere,
head of Naro, said “African agriculture has always depended
on mother nature. As a result, we have experienced 40 years
of declining production and an increase in rural poverty.
More than 200 million people are malnourished.”
“Our dependence on Asian rice imports is
putting us more at risk. We must make new varieties
available and give farmers access to them,” he added.
In Uganda and Tanzania, new Nerica varieties
were released to farmers in late 2007 and as a result, there
has been increased production and consumption on the farm
level. From the earlier releases of three upland rice
varieties in Uganda in 2002 (courtesy of the Rockefeller
support) farmers were able to reap $9 million (Approx. Shs
14.9 billion) in 2005.
The meeting also addressed current efforts to
tackle diseases such as Rice Yellow Mottle Virus and Rice
Blast that are devastating farmers in several regions.
Tanzania breeder Dr Nkonki Kibanda reported
that the country’s Department of Agricultural Services has
identified local varieties resistant to Rice Yellow Mottle
Virus, which can decimate 90 percent of rice yield. Dr
Kibanda expects that new disease resistant versions of
farmers’ favorite variety, known as Supa, will be available
by 2009.
However, the development of new varieties is
only a first step.
A second major challenge is multiplying large
quantities of the new varieties and getting them to farmers.
This requires that public breeding institutes work far more
closely with small private seed companies, helping to build
an African private seed sector that is responsive to the
needs of small-holder farmers.
Uganda provides a strong example of this kind
of collaboration. Seed companies have seen annual sales grow
from zero to 3,500 metric tons in the past six years.
In the past, seed distribution was mostly
carried out by national governments with very limited
financial resources. For their part, multinational seed
companies have had little to no interest in fostering the
sale of African crops to smallholder farmers, as the profit
margin would be too small.
Agra has now begun facilitating growth in
Africa’s private sector by providing loans and technical
assistance to small- and mid-size seed companies, allowing
farmers to access locally adapted, higher quality seed.
By Jane Ininda
Programme Officer, Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (Agra)
Sources:
http://www.20mai.net/2008/05/01/food-crisis-africa-must-look-inward/
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