The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has presented an initiative to address “the widening gap between rice demand and supply” at a meeting in Côte d’Ivoire.
FAO met with the African Development Bank and Africaseeds to discuss the shortfall in production on the continent, where demand of 30m tons is relieved by 14m tons’ worth of imports, according to its own figures.
The organisation added that Africa produced 29m tons of rice in 2013, compared to Asia’s 674m tons and the global total of 745m tons. The widening demand-supply gap has prompted increased calls on the continent to step up efforts to significantly increase local supply and curb rice importation.
FAO agriculture and consumer protection department senior technical officer Robert Guei claimed that the rice “is a strategic priority crop for food security”.
“We have to have a business model that integrates value chain with assisting farmers in using best practices and modern farming technologies.”
African Development Bank agriculture and agro-industry manager for west and central Africa, Dougou Keita, added: “This meeting with FAO is to discuss and agree on actions needed to advance operationally the rice initiative.”
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