Contradiction between climate change findings and crop cultivation recommendations to Africa

There are now many studies which suggest that rising temperatures and reduced rainfall will make the farming of many African staples more difficult. So there is nothing particularly new or surprising about a new CGIAR study that says yields of maize, wheat and rice may significantly decrease as a result of climate change.

Among other things, the study says that in Africa maize output may decline by 10 to 20%. Irrigated wheat and rice could drop by 13 and 15% respectively in developing countries.

Yet just a few weeks ago there was a much publicized suggestion that Africa could and should be growing more wheat.

What should African countries do about wheat in light of these seemingly clashing findings?

Strictly speaking there is no real contradiction in them. The wheat study said Africa was in general only using up to about 15% of its wheat growing potential. So even if that full potential is going to be reduced, there is still a lot of scope to increase African wheat cultivation from its current low base.

But if African countries are already battling to raise lower-than-needed levels of the more basic staples, rice and maize, should they further thin their resources by significantly attempting to increase wheat production, even if they theoretically can? Would they perhaps be better advised to put all their energy and resources on increasing production of rice and maize before worrying about the 'luxury' staple of wheat?

The answers to these questions are far from easy.

Chido Makunike

African Agriculture

The potential of neglected ancient African rice varieties

In Africa the rice cultivars used in the experimental and smallholder farming initiatives are imported, commercial and, in some cases, specially adapted commercial cultivars.

This is obviously to the advantage of the providers of the seeds and makes farmers ever dependent on their supplies and their prices. It leaves both the smallholder farmers and the rural commercial farmers with little alternative in case the supply chain breaks down.

In many cases too, the seeds are provided on a ‘one- off’ basis and the resulting grain from the fields cannot be readily used to plant next year’s crop; thus, again, locking the farmers in a vicious cycle.

Research and use of traditional varieties have, as usual been abandoned in favor of the varieties proposed by the ‘generous’ foreign donors.

The PR, or rather propaganda machine, of the suppliers of these varieties and cultivars is also very good. The supplier ensures that everybody comes under the erroneous belief that these seeds are the alpha and omega of farming and that nothing else will assist our farmers in attaining crop and food security.

To most of the world, rice connotes Asia and the vast agriculture of Far Eastern river deltas. Indeed, humanity’s second major crop is from Asia, and 90 percent of it, the main source of calories for 2.7 billion people, is grown there.

But rice is also African.

A different species has been cultivated in West Africa for at least 1,500 years. Some African countries have, since ancient times, been just as rice-oriented as any Asian one. For all that, however, almost no one else has ever heard of their species.

Like their counterparts in the Far East, Africa’s ancient rice farmers selected a remarkable range of cultivars suited to many types of habitats.

They produced ‘floating’ varieties (for growing in deep water), weakly and strongly photoperiod-sensitive types (for growing in different latitudes and seasons), swamp and upland cultivars (for growing under irrigated and rain-fed conditions, respectively), and early and late-maturing types.

And, for all of these, they selected forms with various seed characteristics.

Although modern efforts to expand rice production in Africa have largely ignored this indigenous heritage, African rice is still cultivated in West Africa, especially in remote districts. There, until recently, much of it was reserved as a special luxury food for chiefs and religious rituals.

Today, however, farms that grow substantial stands of African rice are few.

The area of most intense cultivation are the ‘floating fields’ on the Sokoto fadamas (floodplains) of Nigeria and the Niger River’s inland delta in Mali. However, the crop is also widely, if thinly, spread in Sierra Leone and neighboring areas, as well as in the hills that straddle the Ghana-Togo border.

From one point of view, there seem to be good reasons for abandoning this food of the forebears. In most locations, farmers prefer the foreign rice because it yields better and scatters less of its seed on the ground.

The situation is quite different where rice is grown strictly for localized, subsistence, or specialty use. There, yield, brittleness, color, or international interest can be unimportant. Indeed, small-scale farmers often prefer African rice. They like the grain’s taste and aroma, and even its reddish appearance. To some people traditional rituals are meaningless unless the ancient grain is employed.

Also, they find the plant easy to produce: its fast growth and spreading canopy help suppress weeds and it generally resists local diseases and pests by itself.

Moreover, these are not the only advantages.

Compared to its Asian cousin, African rice is better at tolerating fluctuating water depths, excessive iron, low levels of management, infertile soils, harsh climates, and late planting (a valued feature because in West Africa’s erratic climate the rains are often tardy).

Also, there are some types that mature much quicker than common rice. Planted out in emergencies when food stocks are getting low, these can

save lives.

 What actually happens in the future to this interesting African crop will depend on individual initiatives, most of them within Africa itself.

Part of the problem is its lack of prestige. Everywhere, consumers have fallen in love with processed Asian rice.

If someone now makes a processed (that is, parboiled) product out of African rice, that alone may return it to high favor. Indeed, it may rise to become a gourmet food of particular interest because of its ancient and historic heritage.

Part of the problem, also, is lack of supply.

Thus, if such specialty markets develop, it seems likely that African rice will survive as a commercial crop.

Then, with selection and breeding, its various cultivars can almost certainly be made to compete with Asian rice in most African locations. There is evidence, for example, that certain types already match the productivity of Asian rice, and in the yield figures there is

considerable overlap between the best African and the poorer Asian ones. This is remarkable considering the 5,000 years of intense effort that has been invested in improving Asian rice.

Even if the local rice never thrives as a commercial crop, it will likely continue as a subsistence crop in Africa.

Even in its current neglected form the plant has something to offer, but just a small amount of support, promotion, and practical research seems likely to bring dramatic improvements.

The world’s rice research is overwhelmingly focused on Asian rice, but the remarkable developments now emerging from laboratories may bring big advances to African rice, on the side.

Molecular biologists have recently ‘marked’ the locations on rice chromosomes where genes for certain genetic attributes are carried. The ability to determine whether a desired gene is present or absent in any sample bestows enormous power.

It can, for instance, help find a desired gene in wild as well as cultivated species. It can find a ‘hidden’ gene in a given plant where the gene’s outward effects are masked, and it vastly simplifies the sorting of thousands of crossbred specimens, something that formerly could take a lifetime of tedious effort.

A particular strength of this new work is that breeders can now work with very young seedlings. In other words, they can tell whether a certain gene is present without waiting months for the plant to mature. This can cut the time needed to breed a new variety, usually 10-12 seasons, in half.

Although the genomes (chromosome sets) of both African and Asian rice have been mapped, the rest of the effort has so far been solely on Asian rice. Nonetheless, most results from Asian rice are likely to be easily transferable. The genome is relatively small, containing only a tenth as much DNA as maize.

Several teams have managed to regenerate fertile rice plants from protoplasts -cells from which the wall has been removed. This makes it even easier to fiddle with rice genes.

Already, DNA from bacteria has been transferred into rice protoplasts. Mature plants, grown from these protoplasts, have transmitted the implanted DNA to their offspring.

At least two close relatives of African rice are regularly gathered for food, often in sufficient abundance to appear in the markets.

Orza barthii (Oryza breviligulata) is an annual that commonly occurs in seasonally flooded areas from Mauritania to Tanzania and from the Sudan to Botswana. It is the wild progenitor of cultivated African rice. It can form meadows in inundated areas. Its grain falls off so easily that it must be carefully collected by hand. (People use a basket or calabash, and sometimes they tie the stalks in knots to make harvesting easier.) It tastes good and is sometimes sold in markets.

However, wherever rice is cultivated, this plant is regarded mostly as a weed to be eradicated. Certain strains of this species are immune to bacterial blight of rice (Xanthomonas), which could give them a valuable future as genetic resources.

Oryza longistaminata is a common wild rice found throughout tropical Africa as far south as Namibia and Transvaal, as well as Madagascar. Unlike the other species, it is a perennial with rhizomes.

It is tall and out crossing. It usually grows in creeks and drainage canals and reproduces by suckers, often setting few seeds. Nonetheless, these meager grains are sought in times of shortage.

Southern Times

US agric group to partner Nigerian government in ‘Africa’s biggest rice farm’

by Maram Mazen

Dominion Farms Ltd., an Oklahoma- based farming company that produces rice in Kenya, agreed to start a rice farm with the government in Nigeria that would be Africa’s biggest with production at 300,000 tonnes a year.

The $40 million rice farm will reduce Nigeria’s rice imports by 15 percent and cut rice costs by 54 billion naira ($342 million) a year, Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina said in Abuja, the capital, at a press conference attended by officials from Dominion Farms Nigeria Ltd. Terms of the ownership were not announced.

“There’s absolutely no reason in the world for Nigeria to be a food importing nation,” Adesina said. Nigeria must be a “food self-sufficient and food exporting nation.”

Nigeria is the world’s largest importer of rice, at 2.3 million tons a year on consumption of 4.9 million tons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Demand in the country will be 35 million tons by 2050, Adesina said.

Nigeria will produce enough grain in four years to cover its needs, which would allow it to export to other West African countries and compete with Thailand and India, Adesina said.

The farm will stretch over 30,000 hectares in Taraba state in Nigeria’s east, according to a statement from the Agriculture Ministry. About 90 percent of the land will be operated by contract farmers, and the rest will be run as a corporate farm and for training purposes, according to the statement. The farm will require 15,000 workers.

Dominion Farms is based in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and operates a 17,000-acre leasehold in western Kenya, according to the company’s website.

Agriculture accounts for 44 percent of gross domestic product, and contributes to about 77 percent of all employment in Nigeria, Adesina said. Africa’s top oil producer spends “well over” 1.3 trillion naira annually to import the four basic food items of wheat, rice, sugar and fish, he said.

Nigeria plans to add 20 million tonnes of production over the next four years of crops including rice, cassava, corn, soybeans, sorghum and cotton, Adesina said.

Bloomberg

Kenya irrigated rice to be expanded

by Patrick Beja

Kenya is cultivating rice in irrigation facilities along the Tana and Athi rivers.

Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (Tarda) chairman Mr Mturi Ndegwa said rice production has been successful in the Tana delta since the revival of a farm under the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP).

Regional Development Authorities PS Mr Curey Orege said the Ministry of Agriculture was urgently seeking Sh300 million to put a 2,000-hectare rice farm in the lower Tana to address food security.

Orege made the remarks at Gamba in Tana River County when he launched rice harvesting using combine harvesters.

Tarda has put 800 hectares under pishori rice and expects to harvest 2,500 tonnes.

Last season, Tarda put 850 hectares under commercial rice and harvested 1,500 tonnes of paddy. Tarda invested Sh56 million and reaped Sh106 million profit.

Orege said rice farming in the area was revived under the ESP when government allocated Sh800 million to repair the water canals, dykes and milling plant.

The Standard

Rwanda aims for rice self-sufficiency by 2016

None of Africa’s major rice-consuming countries is self-sufficient in the cereal. Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, and several others have rice-growing efforts of various levels, but none seems close to significantly reducing imports from Asia. Apart from cultivation and other difficulties that plague these schemes, the locally grown rice varieties have sometimes also faced consumer resistance because of their differences in appearance, taste, ease of cooking and so on, compared to the imported varieties many have become accustomed to.

Rwanda has an ambitious plan to supply all its own rice needs by 2016. As part of the plan, a 1750 hectare wetland in the country’s Nyagatare District has been set aside for rice cultivation.

According to the New Times newspaper, the minister of agriculture said 200 of the wetland had been reclaimed for rice cultivation under the World Bank-funded Muvumba Marshland Rehabilitation Project. 750 more hectares were expected to be ready for the beginning of the rice planting season at the beginning of January 2012.

“Our target is to harvest 22,000 tonnes of rice every year from the marshland, which will significantly reduce the current importation burden,” agriculture minister Agnes Kalibata said. “From our plan to cultivate in 100,000 hectares of land under the RSSP, 50 percent of which will be used for rice production, we are certain that within 7 years we will have enough rice, not only for local consumption, but also for export.”

According to Kalibata, the country consumes approximately 55,000 tonnes of rice every year.

African Agriculture

Nigerian regional government in rice cultivation deal with Spanish investors

The government of Kwara State in Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with investors from Spain to develop rice cultivation, processing and packaging. The deal is said to be 'worth 70 billion Nigerian Naira' (1US$ = 163₦ ).'

The state government is to provide 30 per cent of the total cost, including 20, 000 hectares of land. The Spanish investors are to provide the remaining 70 per cent of the total cost of the investment for the period of four years.

The Spanish company and the representatives of Kwara state government agreed that the investment will be in stages. The company is to invest 70 million Euros annually for the period of four years, making a total investment of 280 million Euros. Based on the agreement, the state government will allocate 5,000 hectares of land for the process for each stage.It is expected that each stage of 5,000 hectares of land is expected to yield 40,000 tonnes of rice annually.


more...This Day

Chinese technology to increase rice yields in Mozambique

Mozambican Prime Minister Aires Ali has challenged the country's young people, as well as its businesses, to increase food production, by banking on the introduction of new agricultural technologies to increase yields.

This would be possible, he said, through the use of knowledge and techniques learnt through the cooperation between Mozambique and China.

According to a report in the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique", Ali was speaking during a working visit to the Lower Limpopo irrigation scheme in the southern province of Gaza. Here, in the Ponela block, a rice production project is underway as part of the twinning between Gaza and the Chinese province of Hubei.

A memorandum signed between the two provinces in mid-2007 stipulates that in an initial phase the Chinese investors should ensure rice production in an area of 300 hectares.

Tests began two years ago, and since then rice production at Ponela has been raised to ten tonnes per hectare. Previously, under the traditional Mozambican system, yields were between two and three tonnes per hectare. The Chinese production techniques have been transferred to about 20 Mozambican farmers to date.

"What we want is that Mozambicans, particularly young people and the business sector, should embrace this project enthusiastically, obtaining the technologies and the machinery to increase production levels", said Ali.
Gaza has educational institutions that specialize in agriculture, and Ali suggested that students from these colleges should go the Lower Limpopo irrigation scheme for apprenticeships where they would assimilate Chinese rice production techniques.

Agricultural engineers and other specialists should also visit Ponela, he said, so that they could understand the Chinese technologies and spread them to other provinces.

The Ponela block covers about 11,000 hectares or arable land. 7,000 hectares are worked by commercial farmers, and the other 4,000 hectares are in the hands of around 8,000 peasant producers.


AIM

IRRI releases two new rice varieties in Burundi

by Marla Lise

A collaboration between the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the African country of Burundi has resulted in farmers having two new rice varieties that are set to boost rice production.

AsianScientist (Jan. 3, 2012) – A collaboration between the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the African country of Burundi has resulted in farmers having two new rice varieties that are set to boost rice production.

The African country of Burundi has been ranked as one of the five poorest countries in the world, with more than 90 percent of the population depending on agriculture for food.

Rice was first introduced in 1890 but only took off as a major food crop and staple in the 1980′s. However, the country’s farmers were not able to grow enough rice to keep up with demand.

Based on a collaborative effort with the Philippine-headquartered IRRI that began in 2008, farmers in Burundi will soon have two new rice varieties, IRRI’s IR77713 and IR79511, which were chosen over Burundi’s local grown varieties because they produce more rice, have higher grain quality, and taste better.

These two varieties can produce one and a half tons more rice than local varieties and they mature two to three weeks earlier, meaning that farmers can grow two crops in the same season.


“I am happy that the varieties I selected are now released. I would like to get seeds now, to be among those who will multiply seeds, so that my income can increase,” said Ms. Scolastique Simbandumwe, one of the farmers who helped pick the new varieties.

The rice varieties were released by IRRI-Burundi ahead of schedule, only after four growing seasons. These varieties are targeted to be planted in the low lying areas around the country in hopes of boosting food production and matching farmer and consumer needs.

“We do, of course, still have a long way to go. We will actively assist Burundi’s Ministry of Agriculture to multiply the seed of these new varieties so that they can reach farmers as soon as possible,” says Mr. Joseph Bigirimana, IRRI’s liaison scientist and coordinator in Burundi.

 IRRI.

South African farmer tries his hand at rice farming

by Wilma den Hartigh

The South African agricultural sector could soon add rice to its list of crops cultivated locally.

Rice has never been produced commercially in the country. According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), 90% of the world's rice is cultivated in South, Southeast, and East Asia.

Globally, rice is grown in more than a hundred countries with a total harvested area of nearly 160-million hectares, producing more than 700-million tons every year.

One fifth of the world's population depends on rice cultivation for their livelihoods.

The South African economy and agricultural sector can benefit significantly from introducing another grain crop, says  local businessman Hennie Kruger, who is spearheading the project.

"This is a very positive development for the country and there are many farmers interested in growing rice."

He says that as rice is a cereal grain summer crop, many grain farmers would be interested in growing rice as a means to diversify their farming operations. Local production will also reduce the country's reliance on rice imports. South Africa imports two-million tons of the staple each year.

"Our farmers should produce much of the rice we need. It could become a major grain crop in South Africa," says Kruger.

According to Kruger, the absence of local rice plantings does not mean it can't be produced successfully in South Africa.

He says that about 10 years ago, studies by the Agricultural Research Council found rice to be a crop worth cultivating.

Recent commercial planting trials carried out by six farmers across the country yielded promising results.

"The trials show that rice does not have to be cultivated in water-logged fields. It can be planted in any soil, provided the soil contains 15% clay," explains Kruger.

He says that there is a common misconception that rice can only grow in watery paddy fields. However, because northern hemisphere agricultural countries receive much more rain than South Africa, crops such as rice are often grown in water.

According to the IRRI, flood-prone rice producing ecosystems need special rice varieties that are suited to flooded environments. These rice plants must be adapted to conditions such as deep water, flash floods that could last longer than 10 days, salinity in low-lying coastal areas and problem soils.

In these environments, rice yields are low and extremely variable because of soil problems and unpredictable combinations of drought and flood.

The IRRI confirms that rice production under irrigation is viable. The irrigated rice environment accounts for about half of the harvested rice area and contributes 75% of global rice production.

Worldwide, about 80-million hectares of rice are grown in irrigated areas. High-yielding areas of irrigated rice can be found in China, Egypt, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, and the Senegal River Valley in Africa.

Kruger says that with well-managed irrigation, rice can be grown in many areas across South Africa, such as Kwa-Zulu Natal, the western areas of the Free State province and even as far north as Thabazimbi in Limpopo province.

"When grown under irrigation the crop responds beautifully," he says.

A local seed company is looking into importing the rice seed initially, but in the near future the company would like to start seed selection on rice. Kruger estimates that within three years South Africa could have its own seed and the industry could be established commercially.

After harvest, the rice grain undergoes a number of processes depending on how it will be used. Such methods include, drying, storing, milling, and processing.

Rice processing facilities are not available in South Africa yet, but talks are underway with a local financier about investment to build such a facility.

mediaclubsouthafrica.com

Uganda: Rice production, exports increase

Rice has become Uganda’s biggest income earner topping traditional food crops, according to a survey released by ministry of Agriculture.

The survey released indicated that the production of rice in Uganda had increased by 23per cent in 2010, compared to 9 per cent for bananas, 5 per cent for cassava and 4 per cent for beans.

Although the survey does not list percentage growth in cash crops, Mr Tress Buchanayandi, the minister of Agriculture, said, “Uganda has increased rice production from 120,000 metric tonnes in 2002 to 200,000 in 2010 saving the country about Shs120 billion ($ 50 million) annually in rice imports.”

According to data as the ministry of Agriculture, Uganda exports between 40,000 to 50,000 metric tonnes of rice to South Sudan, DR Congo, Kenya and some Asian countries.

Mr Buchanayandi, however, said the growing of rice had been hampered by ecological requirements but the introduction of the Nerica rice species that grows even in humid environments had boosted the crops growth.

Monitor

Ghana: 110 combine harvesters for Northern Region rice farmers

The Ghanaian government has delivered 110 combine harvesters for distribution to farmers across the Northern Region to improve rice farms.

The machines, which come in addition to 18 larger combined harvesters distributed last year, are expected to reach the farmers early enough for the harvest season next month.

The Northern Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr Joseph Faalong,said that although the region would need more such harvesters, the latest addition would help the farmers a great deal to harvest their crops before they experienced any worse form of flooding.

Rice production in the region is expected to go up this year, following various interventions by the government and development partners under the Breadbasket project, an agricultural productivity programme for the northern part of the country.

Last year, the government subsided 100,000 tonnes of fertilisers to farmers, out of which the Northern Region consumed 39 per cent. This year, 150,000 tonnes would be subsidised to benefit more farmers who, agricultural experts in the north said, were gradually waking up to its importance in increasing yields.

With the subsidies, the farmers purchase the fertilisers for GH¢30 instead of the non-sibsidised price of GH¢45.

About 70 per cent of the total land mass of the Northern Region, measuring about 4.9 million hactares, is arable but only about 800,000 hectares (representing 16 per cent) is under cultivation, in spite of the availability of water resources in the area. About 10 per cent of the Volta Lake lies within the region to the benefit of some 210 communities.

Modern Ghana

Kenya: New rice planting system saves water, seeds

by Ngondi Mburu

Kenyan rice farmers are switching to a new technology that is set to double production. The System for Rice Intensification (SRI) developed by the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology is expected to improve production by more than 50 per cent while saving on increasingly scarce water.

Rather than planting a group of seeds together, the new method uses only one seedling per hole with a wider spacing between holes of 25 cm by 25 cm. This saves on inputs as farmers use 25 per cent of seeds used in the conventional paddy system and less fertiliser.

With wider spacing, rice plants get more sunlight, air and nutrients, allowing faster growth of roots and canopies, producing stronger stalks and more tillers.

The new system saves water by about 25 per cent to 50 per cent, allowing for the saved water to be used to expand the production area. Water scarcity has been affecting most rice-growing schemes with frequent rationing affecting production. The situation is expected to worsen with increasing population and climate change.

Use of less water is also expected to reduce water- borne diseases along with Malaria and Bilharzia. Farmers are encouraged to use organic fertilisers rather than synthetic ones to enrich the soil. This further reduces input costs.

One of the disadvantages of the new system, however, is that it requires more weeding since weeds tend to grow more rapidly under un-flooded conditions. But the extra effort is compensated by increased yields of one to two tonnes per hectare.

More than 1,800 farmers have adopted the system which improves yields, grain quality, size and aroma, and uses up to 50 per cent less water than the conventional system.

Rice consumption in Kenya is estimated at 300,000 metric tonnes compared to a consumption of 45,000 to 80,000 metric tonnes. The deficit is met by imports mainly from Asia.

Business Daily Africa

How would an investor export maize or rice from a famine-hit country?

by Chido Makunike

The controversies over foreign investment in African land continue to rage. From the many issues heatedly raised will hopefully emerge models of investment that achieve the aims of the various parties without being seen as exploitative. It is and will continue to be a huge challenge for all concerned, but foreign investment in African agriculture is neither new nor will the factors driving both investors and host countries to consider it diminish in the near term.

The first modern Africa land rush was when European countries carved up the continent into the economic spheres of influence that correspond to Africa's borders today. A key part of the colonization process that followed involved the introduction of 'cash crops' like coffee, cotton, groundnuts and many others on huge estates to supply the raw materials for the colonial metropole's industrial processes. Sometimes long after some of these crops have ceased to be economically viable, many African countries' economies still heavily depend on them, creating all sorts of problems that have so far defied easy solution.

Together with the introduction of new crops and farming techniques, that first wave of land 'investment' also involved conquest, large-scale dispossession and relocation, forced labor and many of the other lingering effects that today cause many Africans to be instinctively suspicious of modern-day investors. In theory the self-governing status of today's African countries should protect against the abuses of the colonial era but this is far from straight-forward and certain to skeptics.

So finding a model that works to maximize the hoped-for benefits for investors and locals while minimizing the many issues of concern is clearly an on-going process.

The drought and famine in East Africa is already throwing up some uncomfortable questions for the model of large scale agro-investment in a poor country for export.

How would an agribusiness be able to export maize from a famine-stricken country that depends on the crop as its staple food? The furore over South Korean company Daewoo's plans to grow export maize in Madagascar was at least in a mainly rice-eating country. But imagine an investor had spent years and millions of dollars developing export-maize plantations in a mainly maize-eating east African country amidst the region's current famine.

How would it look for the investor to cite 'but that's what we agreed' as a reason to export the maize in the face of mass local maize starvation? More to the point, regardless of the investment agreement signed, would the government dare to allow such exports in a time of famine?

Easy, some might say, the investor should take this into account by incorporating a special 'famine' escape clause into his contract with his export markets, explaining that in the event of a local shortage he would not be able to supply, and would have to sell the maize locally.

But is this as clear cut as that may sound? Because of of the fraught, political importance of maize in Africa, it is not really a fully freely-tradeable crop, especially in times of scarcity. In the midst of a maize famine in which the government has prohibited exports but also does not have money to pay for your maize, what happens? In a 'free market' situation you should be able to keep the maize in your warehouse until you have negotiated a satisfactory payment arrangement, but how realistic is that in a time of famine?

What about if the government issues an emergency decree setting the maize purchase price below the investor's cost of production? This is far from a mere rhetorical question: in many countries this has often been a reality. The government needs to keep maize prices high enough to encourage farmers, but also low enough to keep this highly political crop at prices 'affordable' to the voters. Government price subsidies are sometimes part of the mix of answers but they are expensive and hard to sustain. Price ceilings whose considerations are as much political as economic/agricultural are sometimes another part of the answer, especially in difficult times.

If the government commandeers all the country's production of the staple crop by requiring all of a season's maize production to be sold to the government-owned maize marketing monopoly (not unheard of), promising to pay when it can, how does the investor pay his debts in the meantime? This is a problem that has plagued African commercial maize farmers in almost every country at one time or another.

Of course the investor may hope he is given special dispensation in the event of any of these matters arising, which could be the case, but in a famine all bets are off.

So the investor looks at all this and says, ''Okay, I will avoid growing locally 'political' crops for export in case these issues come up. I will grow something more safe, lucrative and non-political, like flowers.''

The investor buys or leases huge parcels of land to grow flowers for export. All seems to go very well for some time. Everyone is pleased at the new jobs, revenue, etc. When drought hits, the investor's hands are 'clean' because he doesn't have to get involved in the inevitably messy supply/price politics of staple crops during times of shortage.

But then the drought persists and there are growing concerns that your export flowers are using up too much of the water that should go for other more pressing concerns. You immediately point to the appropriate clause in your investment contract promising you X millions of liters of water for Y number of years. But if a government is forced to choose between honoring the promises it made to an investor in a 'normal' time and the needs/demands of hungry, angry hordes during a time of famine, well...

Africa needs all kinds of investment in its agriculture; that much everybody seems to agree on. The potential negatives of the current waves of large-scale investments have mainly been examined from the perspectives of how the host countries have not done enough to ensure a fair deal for themselves. But as the few examples presented here try to show, there are also investors who will get burned not because the idea of investing itself was wrong, but because they were naive, over-eager and failed to do sufficient due diligence before deciding how, where and in what specific sectors to invest in.

All you investors who are sure you 'know Africa,' if and when your carefully laid business plan goes belly up during a famine, don't say you weren't warned at the beginning about the many not so-obvious factors to ponder.

African Agriculture 

Related reading:

Africa increasingly questions the sustainability of dependence on maize for food security

African maize dependence needlessly increases the chances of every drought becoming a famine

 

 

Imports undermine Nigerian production of rice

by Valerie Anofochi

Akinwunmi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, has said the Nigeria’s over reliance on rice importation is impoverishing local farmers and the country’s economy.

"Nigerians are eating beyond their means,” he said. “While we all smile as we eat rice every day, Nigerian rice farmers cry as the imports undermine domestic production. This must stop. We must accelerate domestic rice production and improve on processing to meet quality standards. We must tap into all the resources of our farmers across the nation and deliver a green revolution for rice that will make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production.”

The minister noted with sadness that Nigeria used to be a force to reckon with in agricultural production.

"In those years, Nigeria accounted for over 60 per cent of the global supply of palm oil and 35 per cent of groundnut,” he said. “It also accounted for 23 per cent of groundnut oil and 15 per cent of cocoa."

Adesina vowed to lead Nigeria out of the gridlock it is witnessing in the agriculture sector. He said he would revolutionise and transform the sector into business that works and create wealth for small- scale and commercial farmers.

Daily Times

Nigeria’s Lagos State may acquire land to grow rice

by Niki Moore

Nigeria’s Lagos state, home to the country’s biggest city, may buy land elsewhere in the nation to grow rice to meet the city’s needs.

The state is already introducing irrigation and encouraging mechanization to boost rice production, Rotimi Fashola, a consultant at the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Co- operatives, told the Rice Africa Outlook conference in Durban, South Africa.

“We cannot rely on imports,” he said. “We are looking to acquire land in neighboring states as Lagos is land poor.”

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is the biggest consumer and importer of rice on the continent. The country is forecast to import about 1.9 million metric tons of the grain this year, or about 41 percent of its 4.65 million ton forecast consumption, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also forecast production at 2.7 million tons.

“Lagos is a microcosm of greater Nigeria,” Fashola said. “Its 18 million inhabitants consume the most par-boiled rice in the world, with an average of 34 kilograms per person per annum.”

Fashola estimates of production and imports are higher than those of the USDA. Legal imports into Nigeria are about 1.6 million tons a year and another 450,000 tons are smuggled from neighboring Benin, he said. Production is 3.4 million tons, he said.

Bloomberg

Ghana: Rice imports killing local growers - FAO

by Michael Sarpong Bruce

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says Ghana’s over-reliance on foreign imported rice is becoming a source of worry.

“By limiting the importation of rice, the country will save money and invest in market development to increase productivity and expand growth. This is how most countries develop,” said FAO Representative in Ghana, Musa Saihou Mbenga

“Ghana has the potential to meet local demand. There is need to adopt pragmatic policies designed to move local production up.”

Ghana currently spends US$450million annually on rice importation to satisfy local demand. The country’s self-sufficiency in rice production stands at about 30 percent, leaving a shortfall of 70 percent.

It is estimated that the Aveyime rice project, when it reaches full-capacity production of about 800,000 tonnes, will save Ghana over US$600 million at the current cost of rice importation, possibly yielding a surplus for the country.

Everett Anderson, Managing Director of Prairie Volta Limited, manager of the project, was recently reported as saying that the Aveyime project could put Ghana in a position to meet the entire rice needs of the West African sub-region.

But in the meantime, the preference for rice imports has hurt local production and made it more difficult for local producers to compete with the high-quality marketing and production standards of foreign rice.

Business and Financial Times

International Rice Exhibition, November 3-5 2011

Rice International Conference & Exhibition (RICE) – Dubai 2011, bringing together the major players in the rice industry to promote rice and related products. This is one of the first and largest industry events in the region to promote Rice and related products.

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• requirements through a variety of suppliers from different parts
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http://www.riceexhibition.com/

Bangladesh trials African rice to boost food yield

by Shafiq Alam

A high-yield strain of rice developed for Africa's drylands is being trialled in Bangladesh...

Rice has been grown in Bangladesh's Ganges delta for thousands of years and the country was once home to 4,000 varieties of the grain, but it is unable to produce enough for its own needs, even without one of its frequent natural disasters.

Bangladeshi officials say Nerica -- the New Rice for Africa, developed around a decade ago by an institute in Ivory Coast -- could boost Bangladesh's food security...

The country initially trialled Nerica, which is drought-resistant and fast-growing, in 2009 and after better-than-expected field results last year a nationwide trial has been rolled out involving 1,500 farmers, officials said.

The state-run Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corp (BADC) imported seeds from Uganda and has distributed them to farmers across the country to test their performance in different conditions, its director M. Nuruzzaman said
.
"We have high hopes Nerica rice will boost our food security in difficult conditions," he said. "It has amazing qualities that most Bangladeshi high-yielding varieties don't have."

Nerica, originally intended to raise rice output in African countries, can be harvested in 90 to 100 days, requires limited water -- it was designed for Africa's drylands -- and is very high-yielding, he said. In contrast, many rice strains now popular with Bangladesh's tens of millions of farmers require a large amount of water, forcing farmers, particularly those in the drought-hit north, to invest in irrigation systems and leading to sharp falls in groundwater levels.

Moreover, the highest-yielding rice varieties currently used in Bangladesh take between 140 and 160 days to harvest, according to the BADC, which provides some 70 percent of the rice and cereal seeds used by local farmers. Nerica's shorter harvest period was what first prompted BADC to turn to the rice strain in hopes that it could solve a key dilemma in Bangladesh: how to make up for crop losses in the event of major natural disasters.

The South Asian country is home to 150 million people, one-third of them living below the poverty level, and needs around 35 million tonnes of rice a year. But its maximum production capacity is only 32.25 million tonnes, according to 2009-2010 official figures. The shortfall is imported from its Asian neighbours, but when floods, cyclones and other extreme weather hit, domestic rice production falls sharply, leaving the country vulnerable to food shortages.

"The idea is to use Nerica as a replacement crop in case the country is hit by mid-season or late-season floods or other disasters," said Anwar Faruque, director general of seeds at the Agriculture Ministry.
"Presently, we don't have a variety to make up the loss. But Nerica can fill the void because of its short harvest period," he said. "It also only needs a little water, so it can be grown in districts (in the north) where we see persistent dry conditions," he said.

Bangladesh is one of the world's countries most vulnerable to climate change, experts say, and is regularly hit by cyclones, floods and other natural disasters.

The BADC's Nuruzzaman said that if the trial lived up to expectations the authorities would make the new strain available on the open market as early next year.

Some local experts have questioned the Nerica trials, however, saying they are being rushed ahead without the involvement of the country's main rice research agency, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI). The state-run BRRI is credited with inventing high-yield varieties which have tripled Bangladesh's rice production in four decades.

BRRI chairman Abdul Mannan said that Nerica "looks promising" in Bangladeshi conditions and could help boost food security, but warned it was "too early" to give a verdict. "It is a good attempt by the government. But we need to conduct stability tests across the year and across all weather and environmental conditions to see how good it really is," he said.

AFP

A new rice variety raises hope in Mozambique

Mozambique has become the latest chapter in progress toward what hopefully will be a worldwide revolution in rice production, with the development of a new, locally grown strain developed through the efforts of an international consortium supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.


The rice strain, known as Makassane, was chosen for its long grain, texture and disease resistance, according to the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute. Makassane is the first rice variety bred by IRRI that has been designed specifically for Mozambique consumers and farmers to ensure it suits local market needs and production conditions. IRRI is providing government agencies and farmers foundation seed to use in bulking up the seed so that more can be produced and distributed to farmers.


Surapong Sarkuring, IRRI's coordinator for rice breeding in East and Southern Africa, called the development of the strain "just the beginning. We have recently identified many promising potential new rice varieties that combine superior grain quality with high yield and resistance to major diseases, and are suitable for growing in Mozambique."


IRRI and other rice research programs in the Global Rice Science Project (GRiSP) received US$18 million from the Gates Foundation to help fund rice research and production in seven countries in Africa and another seven in Asia, to train local people from public and private centers on the use of breeding and seed production technology and now are working to put it into the hands of farmers.


The hope, Surapong said, is to make Mozambique...self-sufficient in rice production. Subsistence agriculture continues to employ the vast majority of the country's work force. Smallholder agricultural production and productivity growth remain weak although in the late 1980s the government embarked on macroeconomic reforms that have resulted in dramatic economic progress.


"Mozambique has a vast area of land suitable for rice production," Surapong added. "If better varieties like Makassane can be more widely adopted, Mozambique could become both self sufficient in rice and a rice exporter because the grain quality of Makassane and the other rice varieties we are developing meet international quality standards."


The Makassane rice project is an offshoot of a painstaking crossbreeding program involving hundreds of strains of rice, called back-crossbreeding. The newly created strains are repeatedly crossbred back to their parent varieties to produce hardy new strains that are resistant to disease and bugs, need no fertilizer and raise yields dramatically. Rice scientists from IRRI said the process can raise African yields from one metric ton per acre to six and seven tons.


Mozambique, according to the IRRI, already has very strong yields. The government agricultural research institute for Mozambique, IIAM (Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique), played a key role in helping test the new Makassane strain across six sites across the island.


Although Makassane produces about the same yields as Limpopo, the current most popular variety, its grain quality is significantly better. It is resistant to bacterial leaf blight and blast, two major diseases that cause serious grain losses in Limpopo rice. Its milling recovery rate is about 13 percent higher than for Limpopo. Makassane is also tall enough to survive flooding but not too tall to fall over easily and has many grain-producing heads.


Chinese scientists headed by molecular scientist Li Zhi-Kang have spent 13 years on a back-crossbreeding project that with IRRI's help has produced what has become known as Green Super Rice, which has dramatically raised yields with strains developed specifically to meet local climate needs in Africa and Asia. In February, Dr Li led a delegation of 15 international plant scientists to Africa to set out to train local research institutions to push the new strains out to local farmers. Li said Green Super Rice can increase yields in Africa by six-fold.


"Our goal is to work together with African science people to transfer the technology," Li said. "In the second phase we will work together to develop a new type of rice there." In just one project along the Niger River in Mali the trials use 112 different Green Super Rice hybrids and another 33 inbred varieties.


Following the approval of Makassane for release by the Mozambique Variety Release Committee earlier this month, The government agricultural research institute for Mozambique, IIAM (Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique), played a key role in helping test Makassane across six field sites from the north to the south of Mozambique over the last three years. Makassane is best suited to the irrigated areas of southern Mozambique, where soils are fertile, but testing is ongoing in other regions.

Asia Sentinel

Global research chief sees rice boom in Africa

by David Williams

Subsaharan Africa could double or triple rice yields and one day even export to Asia where urban sprawl and rising sea levels threaten paddies, a global research chief said on June 13.

Large parts of Subsaharan Africa, in the Sudan, for example, have vast tracts of land suitable for paddy rice production, said International Rice Research Institute director general Robert Zeigler. But these lands have yet to be harnessed. As a result, Africa now imports about 40 percent of its rice needs from Asia.

In 2009, paddy production rose 3.44 percent to 24.43 million tonnes in African countries, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation data showed. But demand grew 4.2 percent in the same year, said the Africa Rice Centre's annual report, forcing the continent to import 10 million tonnes of rice at a cost of $4 billion ($2.8 billion euros).

"We are looking to double or triple the yields in Africa - they are very low now," Zeigler said in Madrid, where he was picking up an award to the institute for development cooperation.

In the longer term, demand for rice will carry on growing in Asia but land for paddies is already saturated and it may decline as Asian megacities encroach on farms and Delta areas are swamped by a rising sea and increasingly severe storms because of climate change, Zeigler said.

"If you look at Subsaharan Africa there are areas, very, very large areas that have a lot of land, very good land, that have a lot of water and there are hardly any people who live there," he said. "These are areas that could be future sources for global food supply," Zeigler said, citing areas in the Sudan, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, and along the Niger Delta.

China was already investing in some of these areas in Africa, he said. Such investments should be properly managed, the research chief said, but not refused.

"It could be that 25 years from now, India and China will be sourcing a significant amount of their staples from Subsaharan Africa," Zeigler said. "If that is managed properly that could be a tremendous boon to the farmers in Africa, take pressure off land in Asia and if it is done properly everybody wins."

The Manila-based IRRI, which has programmes in Mozambique, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda, has teamed up with Africa Rice, which is a formal linkage of over 20 Subsaharan countries to push rice output in the continent.

Rice grains in Africa have deteriorated over time, and new varieties are needed with shorter growing seasons and resistance to drought and disease, including the endemic African virus, Rice Yellow Mottle Virus.

But African countries also need to build better roads between farms and markets, and develop water irrigation, which is particularly crucial to rice farming, Zeigler said. Also, in Africa much of the farming is done by a woman using hoes, often while carrying babies. In rice farming, where level fields are crucial to proper water distribution, fertilization and impeding weeds, farms will have to start using simple two-wheeled ploughs with small diesel or gasoline engines.

Finally, Africa would have to develop a network of agricultural researchers.

AFP