For a food secure region, East Africa needs harmonised approach or strategy for the development of the crop’s value chain.
The regional rice consumption is growing rapidly, with 2006 milled rice consumption estimated at 3.1 million MT in East Africa.
It continues to be an increasingly important staple food crop after maize and wheat.
Domestic tax laws need to be harmonised to ensure rice farmers have access to seed when they need it.
Rice is an increasingly important staple food in the East African Community (EAC). Although some of the six partner states produce it, there is a heavy reliance on imports to meet shortfalls in the demand driven by evolved consumer preferences and a growing middle class.
According to a 2014 study done by Kilimo Trust, consumption of rice within the region grew at an average of four per cent per annum between 2002 and 2012.
The regional rice consumption is growing rapidly, with 2006 milled rice consumption estimated at 3.1 million MT in East Africa. It continues to be an increasingly important staple food crop after maize and wheat. The local supply cannot cope with demands and imports have increased rapidly.
Rice is mainly produced by smallholder farmers - both for commercial and subsistence purposes. About 80 per cent of the rice grown in Kenya is from irrigation schemes established by the government and currently managed by the state-owned National Irrigation Board, while the remaining 20 per cent is produced under rain-fed conditions.
In 2016, Kenya imported 80 per cent (560,000MT) of the total rice consumed. The remaining 20 per cent is substituted by local production.
Rice imports into Kenya are mainly from Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, and India. Support for domestic rice production is not only likely to reduce the rice import bill, but it would also increase smallholder farmers’ income, promote value addition, and contribute to employment creation along its entire value chain.
Rice produced by smallholder farmers in many African countries is not price competitive compared to Asian countries.
Some of the challenges faced in the rice value chain in East Africa include the small scale of operations by the majority of producers who cultivate farms of less than a hectare; inadequate water management for paddy production; inadequate use of improved varieties; quality seed and other inputs; limited access to markets; low productivity of labour and a lack of mechanisation and efficiency in milling, which makes production ineffective.
Trade is also mainly at the national level, with minimal rice being traded across borders due to various obstacles to intra-region trade such as non-tariff barriers, high costs of transportation and tariffs on imports, all which have not helped boost local production.
As cited by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the continent relies heavily on imports to meet growing rice consumption needs.
This situation continues to pose serious food security challenges since rice is recognised as a priority and strategic food security crop for the continent. One of the ways to increase local yields is using improved varieties of seed.
Afritec Seeds Limited in Kenya, with funding from the UK government through the FoodTrade ESA programme, has developed a new rice seed with the potential to increase the domestic supply of rice by 60 per cent.
This variety has one and a half to two times more yield potential than ordinary rice seed. This will have a multiplier effect by increasing smallholder farmers’ income, contributing to employment creation in rural areas, and moving them up the value.
Keeping pace with the urgency of building a food secure region calls for measures that provide a harmonised approach or strategy for the development of the rice value chain with various countries implementing country focused strategies, stepped up capacity building at the production and post-production stage, assurance of origin of consignments of rice due to widespread blending or mixing with imported rice, and a deliberate commitment to free trade.
East Africa must also tackle the challenges of skewed trade policy and the absence of uniformity in the application of the Common External Tariff (CET).
The value derived from investing in hybrid rice seed is far greater and addresses the shortcomings faced by farmers using traditional or poor quality seed.
The amount of seed used is minimised and there is a significant increase in yield output, increasing the efficiency in production and use of land. Of importance is the increase in the produce value and marketability.
On the production level, the lengthy process of getting seed registered, as well as the bureaucratic process of moving seed and produce across the borders, has caused critical delays in ensuring access to inputs for farmers, as well as losses for value chain actors.
Domestic tax laws need to be harmonised to ensure farmers have access to seed when they need it.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
