With an average annual rice import bill in excess of Sh30 billion, Kenya is under pressure to rethink its strategy on bridging production deficit of the staple amid global uncertainty on stocks levels and pricing.
Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows the country's annual rice consumption is over one million tonnes, while production capacity is approximately 230,000 tonnes.
Anthony Mugambi, the country team leader at Kilimo Trust Kenya, said in 2023 alone, the country spent Sh54.7 billion to import 937,098.5 tonnes of rice in order to plug the deficit.
"Rice consumption growth outweighs, by far, the current production, with Kenya only managing to produce a paltry 20 percent of her demand” he said on the sidelines of the Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 in Kigali.
"Rice cultivation plays a significant role in climate change, primarily due to the greenhouse gases it emits, such as methane (CH₄), which is a potent contributor to global warming, "he noted.
He added that about 2/3 of total emissions from the rice sector are from paddy soil (methane)– produced by bacteria in flooded conditions.
Methane has a high global warming potential (28 times more harmful than carbon dioxide), hence its high potential and priority for mitigation.
"Globally, rice cultivation is the third-largest source of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, next to livestock and all croplands," he highlighted.
It is why Mr Mugambi and his team are championing the government's adoption of high-yielding upland rice varieties, which they say are more resilient to extreme weather conditions in the country as Kenya grapples with the climate crisis.
Grown on dry soil rather than flooded rice paddies, upland rice is cheaper to produce, requires minimal fertiliser, and matures in about three to four months.
This reduces pressure on existing lowland rice schemes, including Ahero and Mwea, he says.
"Through recycling rice byproducts, key among them rice straws and husks, we can make livestock feeds from straws while generating cow dung for biodigesters to produce biogas (for cooking, lighting, and machine operation). The resultant bio-slurry is used as manure through an elaborate rice-livestock integration initiative.
"Straws are also being used in the country to make compost manure and as a substrate for mushroom production," he told the Nation. He further pointed out that rice husks are being used as fuel in specially designed stoves to replace firewood and charcoal, hence saving our forests.
"These specially designed stoves by local fabricators produce biochar instead of ash." Mr Mugambi said other climate-smart practices championed by the project include rice legume integration, where market-demanded/household-consumed legumes are rotated with rice in the field.
This achieves a triple benefit: it enhances household nutrition and income security while also improving soil health through nitrogen fixation.
"The other is alternate wetting and drying (AWD) as opposed to the continuous flooding of paddy fields. This reduces the level of greenhouse gases (especially methane) emitted from the rice fields while at the same time reducing wastage of water."
The expert also believes that Kenya and other African countries growing rice can leverage new digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to increase their yield.
In an interview with the Nation, Mr Bruce Kisitu, director of operations (Africa) at ISDA-Africa - that has developed Virtual Agronomy, a platform that provides scalable agronomic advisory for smallholder farmers and agribusinesses across the continent using AI directly to their mobile phones for Sh130 per cycle - explained that farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Ghana who used to harvest one tonne of rice are now harvesting eight tonnes after leveraging on AI.
He explained that Virtual Agronomist uses AI to communicate directly with farmers through WhatsApp, providing tailored nutrient plans and agronomic advice for their plots.
"ISDA has built the first field-level soil map for Africa, with 20+ soil properties estimated at 30m resolution for the entirecontinent.This open resource is used globally by researchers, startups, agribusiness and governments to produce advisory and analysis, and it powers virtual agronomist to allow advice to be given with or without a soil test," he said.
"According to our data, as we have over 13,000 farmers on the platform since we launched in February 2024, on average, farms using the virtual agronomist system also saw a 66 percent increase in maize yield than those using basic farming practices alone.
The platform also provides tailored advice for a wider range of crops.
