Africa rice production up

Africa recorded 18 per cent increase in rice production in 2008 due to the adoption of key policy measures recommended by the Africa Rice Centre (WARDA) in 2007 to support the sector.
A statement issued in Lome and received in Abuja, commended African governments which prioritised local rice production and introduced conditions that enabled farmers to use Africa's largely untapped land and water resources to produce affordable rice.
"This is a step in the right direction but governments still need to do more in order to significantly reduce dependence on rice imports for national food security," Dr Papa Abdoulaye Seck, the Director-General of WARDA , said in the statement.
The statement identified Burkina Faso as recording a 241 per cent increase in Burkina Faso's rice production in 2008 compared to 2007 levels.
Other countries that recorded double-digit increases in national rice production in just one year included Mali, Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Uganda.
The statement also urged governments to better manage and exploit natural water resources to increase the productivity of rice, noting that Africa uses only four per cent of its renewable water resources.
"Irrigation would increase rice yields three or four times more of what is currently achieved by relying on rainfall alone. Development of roads and storage facilities would further reduce post-harvest losses, which eat into 40 per cent to 60 per cent of the rice produced.
"Africa's current rice yields are less than one third of what could be produced, if technologies and innovations were properly applied," the statement said.
According to Seck, the increasing price of rice in the international market is "a unique historical opportunity and incentive to use Africa's latent potential for rice production and break away from decades of policy bias against agriculture".
The sector, he noted, accounted for 35 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa's GDP and 75 per cent of the continent's employment.
WARDA is an intergovernmental association of 23 rice-producing African countries which facilitates more effective policy dialogue in the continent through its Council of Ministers.
It is also one of the 15 international agricultural research Centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
The centre produces a variety of rice technologies and helps member countries accelerate adoption of new technologies and strengthen rice seed production and distribution systems in order to boost production.
These achievements and the challenges of the African rice sector would be discussed at the biennial WARDA Council of Ministers' meeting in Lomé, Togo, this week.