|
|
Africa: Centre in Moving to Boost Rice Farming
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
1 May 2008
Posted to the web 1 May 2008
Mnaku Mbani
As the world struggles to ease soaring prices of cereals, the Africa Rice Centre, Warda, has announced short-term comprehensive strategies to boost rice production.
Its member countries, including Tanzania, are now required to respond to the rice crisis immediately.
Rice is one of Tanzania's staple foods.
A recent food assessment by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives shows that the price of rice has almost doubled in the past year.
It said rice consumption exceeds production in Africa.
Further, only 54 per cent of rice consumed in sub-Saharan Africa is supplied locally, it showed. Therefore immediate strategies are needed to fill the gap.
"Humanity is today facing an acute rice crisis that, no doubt, is a serious threat to social peace keeping," said the Warda director general, Dr Papa Abdoulaye Seck, in a press release sent to this paper earlier this week.
Warda advised governments to reduce levies on imported rice and define mechanisms to avoid speculation in rice markets.
They should also keep in mind the long-term strategy of vigorously supporting smallholder rice producers to raise productivity and sold surplus.
Dr Seck said with national programs and other partners the centre was now developing an emergency initiative to significantly raise rice production in sub-Saharan Africa.
He further said that the rice crisis offers an opportunity for Africa to build a better future for its rice sector because it is hard, nay impossible, not to foresee such phenomena.
"We have joined other international bodies in helping member states manage the rice crisis through a combination of short-term actions reinforced by medium to long-term strategies supporting their domestic rice sectors," he said.
The rice crisis was not really a surprise for Warda and member states, he noted, noting:
"The centre had not only foreseen the crisis, but had also taken concrete action to help its member states manage it."
During his presentation to launch the short-term strategy, Dr Seck made a series of pragmatic recommendations to African governments.
They include establishing seed legislation and encouraging the involvement of the private sector in seed supply and trade.
More was also needed to reduce the import tax on small-scale farms and processing machinery which can increase the labor efficiency of rice farmers and improve grain quality.
He called on the government to cooperate in reducing fertilizer prices. This is because fertilizers in Africa are two to six times more expensive than those in Asia and Europe, he pointed out.
Other strategies include improving the capacity at research, extension, processing and marketing levels and promoting large-scale use of upland and lowland Nerica rice varieties.
Convinced by this advocacy, member states have made strong commitments to rice research and development. They have increased their contributions to Warda and unanimously adopted the recommendations.
"Africa must understand that it must ensure a rice supply that is sufficient in quantity, satisfactory in quality, rewarding for producers and bearable by the budget of the poorest consumers.
"It is at this cost and this cost alone that it can escape 'hostage taking' by world prices. There is no secret; a competitive and sustainable agriculture is achieved by a combination of three smart factors: Performing technologies, basic infrastructure and an enabling environment", emphasized Dr Seck.
Warda said it has for at least two years predicted a rice crisis in Africa from the year 2008. The last whistle blowing dates from the council of ministers of member states were in September 2007 in Abuja.
During the meeting the Warda DG made a presentation entitled "Rice crisis in Africa, myth or reality"? It clearly emphasized that the continent was heading to real supply difficulties.
|
In fact, Africa accounts for 10 to 13 per cent of the world population but consumes 32 per cent of world imports. Its consumption growth rate is about 4.5 per cent per annum.
It must also be emphasized that econometric models had also estimated that in 2008 prices would at least double those of 2002. Finally, supply was steadily shrinking, according to the press release.
Warda is an autonomous inter-governmental research association of African member states. It is one of the 15 international agricultural research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Citizen. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
