Cotonou, Benin
April 28, 2008
The
Africa Rice Center (WARDA) is helping its 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.
“The rice crisis is not really a surprise for WARDA and our
member states,” said WARDA Director General Dr Papa Abdoulaye
Seck. “The Center had not only foreseen the crisis, but also
taken concrete actions to help its member states manage it.”
Anticipating the crisis
Since 2006, WARDA has been systematically alerting the
governments of its member states on a looming rice crisis in
Africa. The most recent alarm was sounded at the WARDA Council
of Ministers in September 2007 in Abuja, Nigeria.
As part of his high-level advocacy efforts using WARDA’s unique
status as an Association of African countries, WARDA Director
General Dr Seck met with policymakers in Benin in November 2006.
During this meeting, a pan-African Presidential Rice Initiative
under the aegis of President Yayi Boni of Benin was proposed and
approved by His Excellency.
The Presidential Initiative, now scheduled for a November summit
in Cotonou, Benin, will bring together Heads of States,
Ministers of Agriculture, Finance and Trade of WARDA member
states as well as donors, international and national rice
researchers, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector
and farmers.
The objectives of the Presidential Initiative are to rally
support for collective action by the member countries to boost
the continent’s rice production and advocate for greater
investment in the rice sector to avoid devastating breaks in
supply.
The issue of the rice crisis was the focus of the 26th session
of WARDA Council of Ministers in September 2007, where given the
importance of the theme, the Council exceptionally allowed
farmers’ organizations (ROPPA), regional and sub-regional
organizations (FARA and CORAF) and regional economic communities
(UEMOA) to attend as observers.
Dr Seck made a presentation to the Council on “Rice crisis: myth
or reality,” which concluded that all the signs pointed to a
looming rice crisis for Africa, while highlighting at the same
time the tremendous potential of Africa for rice cultivation
because of its vast stretches of uncultivated land, particularly
inland valleys, as well as water resources, which are still
untapped.
During his presentation, Dr Seck made a series of pragmatic
recommendations to African governments to:
- Establish seed legislation
and encourage the involvement of the private sector in seed
supply and trade
- Reduce the import tax on
small-scale farm and processing machinery which can increase
rice farmers’ labor efficiency and improve grain quality
- Work together to reduce
fertilizer prices as fertilizers in Africa are 2 to 6 times
more expensive than those in Asia and Europe
- Improve the capacity at
research, extension, processing, and marketing levels
- Promote large-scale use of
upland and lowland
NERICA® rice varieties
- Increase significantly the
share of high-yielding irrigated and lowland rice farming
Convinced by this advocacy, member
states have made strong commitments to rice research and
development by increasing their contributions to WARDA;
unanimously adopting the recommendations; and supporting
strongly the President Yayi Boni Rice Initiative. Several member
countries immediately sought WARDA’s assistance in developing
national rice strategies and effective seed legislation.
Facing the crisis
To respond to the rice crisis in the short-run, WARDA has
advised governments to reduce levies on imported rice and define
mechanisms to avoid speculation in the rice markets, while
keeping in mind the long-term strategy of vigorously supporting
smallholder rice producers to raise their productivity and
marketed surpluses.
WARDA is also developing with national programs and other
partners an emergency initiative to significantly raise rice
production in sub-Saharan Africa as of now.
Discussing the details of this initiative, which will be
announced shortly, Dr Seck observed, “The rice crisis offers an
opportunity for Africa to build a better future for its rice
sector.”
Africa Rice Center (WARDA) is an autonomous
inter-governmental research association of African member
states. It is also one of the 15 international agricultural
research Centers supported by the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
The
‘New Rice for Africa’ (NERICA), which is bringing hope to
millions of poor people in Africa, was developed by WARDA and
its partners. The success of the NERICAs has helped shape the
Center’s future direction, extending its horizon beyond West and
Central Africa into Eastern and Southern Africa.
The Center hosts the African Rice Initiative (ARI), the Regional
Rice Research and Development Network for West and Central
Africa (ROCARIZ), and the Inland Valley Consortium (IVC). It
also supports the Coordination Unit of the Eastern and Central
African Rice Research Network (ECARRN), based in Tanzania.
Since January 2005, the Center has been working from Cotonou,
Benin. It has regional research stations near St Louis, Senegal
and at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
(IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria. |
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