New regional rice strategy set to boost food security

Supported by the Coalition for Rice Development in Africa (Card), the EAC partner states have developed a new strategy to address low and poor production of rice in the region.

The new EAC Rice Development Strategy (ERDS) aims at mitigating the food insecurity challenge and growing import dependence, while aspiring to facilitate intra-regional trade as a measure to boost food and nutrition security in the region.

The ERDS adopted by the EAC Sectoral Council on Agriculture and Food Security seeks to improve the consolidation of the EAC partner states’ rice sub-sector development efforts, thereby contributing towards reducing dependence on imports worth $300 million annually.

EAC Secretariat principal agricultural economist Fahari Marwa says the new strategy marks a significant milestone in the Community’s food and nutrition security agenda.

“Regional cooperation in agriculture aims to enhance food security and rational agricultural and livestock practices within the EAC through the harmonization of agricultural policies as well as joint programmes for efficient and effective production,” he says.

Apart from solving the huge import bill for the EAC member states, the new strategy will promote sustainable, locally driven rice production practices that are regenerative

EFFICIENT VALUE CHAINS

Rice is a leading important staple food in the EAC. The ERDS framework addresses core concerns to achieve self-sufficiency of the commodity in the region. To meet rice demand from local production that competes commercially with imported rice, local rice yields must be increased and efficient value chains established.

The EAC has set up a Regional Rice Platform to achieve this goal. CARD Secretariat is collaborating on the platform with the EAC Secretariat and Kilimo Trust, a not-for-profit organisation engaged in research on the region’s agricultural development over the past 18 years.

“Apart from solving the huge import bill for the EAC member states, the new strategy will promote sustainable, locally driven rice production practices that are regenerative and support the circular food economy in East Africa and beyond,” says Kilimo Trust quality assurance team leader Andrew Cheboi.

Kilimo Trust, a key partner in the EAC Rice Platform and the development of the ERDS, last month launched its new strategic plan (2023-28) in Kigali, Rwanda during Africa’s premier agricultural event, the Africa Food Systems Forum.

The strategic plan aims to achieve sustainable livelihoods and better communities in the EAC region covering Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and soon, Ethiopia.

Kilimo Trust CEO Dr Birungi Korutaro said through the new strategy, the organisation aims to impact nearly 1.5 million farmers, create 10,000 jobs, support more than 1,000 SMEs and establish more than 5,000 business linkages. It is expected that farmers and other value chain actors will access more than $100 million.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

The new strategy builds on lessons learned in sustainable agricultural practices and will continue equipping actors in the sector with timely information and innovations in mitigating the effects of climate change. It will also contribute towards enhanced food security, food quality and access to high-value markets.

In supporting the EAC’s new rice development strategy, Kilimo Trust is highlighting its latest research project — the Reuse Reduce Recycle Rice Initiative for Climate Smart Agriculture (R4iCSA) II — to complement the ERDS objectives.

The five-year R4iCSA II project, worth more than $5 million, is funded by IKEA Foundation and started in October 2022. It is a sequel to a two-year pilot that ended last July, benefitting 5,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya and Uganda, and now targets 10,000 households in the two countries.

The project aims to promote sustainable, science-based, market-led agricultural development in the region at the core of the new regional rice sub-sector strategy.

Kenya’s bid to curb food insecurity through sustainable climate-smart agriculture has been boosted through the R4iCSA project following successful field trials of upland rice in Tharaka Nithi, Embu and Meru counties.

Farmers in the three counties have expressed a keen interest in adopting the new rice varieties jointly developed with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation. This is the first time that upland rice has been grown in the semi-arid higher grounds of Kenya.

The EAC Secretariat, with financial support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency through the CARD Secretariat, has collaborated with several development and technical partners in delivering the new East African rice strategy.

They include the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), AGRA, Ecowas, SADC, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Rice Institute (IRRI), Islamic Development Bank, JICA and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Gaps have been identified gaps in the development of the region’s rice sub-sector and recommendations made on how to improve them through the strategy. There is consensus that it is essential to consider regional self-sufficiency through enhanced intra-regional trade.

Post-harvest losses, biotic and abiotic disease stresses, engagement of the youth and mechanisms to enhance the comparative advantages of the EAC partner states are among issues addressed in the new strategy.

Also considered is targeted advocacy at the level of policymakers to attract funding from governments for the implementation of the strategy. The private sector is encouraged to invest more in the rice sub-sector through appropriate business models and private-public partnerships (PPPs) to finance its implementation.

Kilimo Trust has undertaken several successful projects in the region based on inclusive, sustainable, regenerative and climate-smart agriculture and the circular economy that R4iCSA II will continue to champion.

TANZANIA’S SUCCESS STORY

The containment of the escalating grain imports is a major focus of Kilimo Trust’s research work with the EAC Secretariat, along with implementing and funding partners. 

Since its inception, the organisation has worked with close to two million farmers across 17 agricultural value chains and programmes. The value of agricultural finance accessed by farmers and other value chain actors is about $32 million.

The work, substantially in rice, focuses on supporting smallholder farmers to increase production through sustainable farming practices and agribusiness with SMEs and processors to improve milling efficiency and access to markets.

Working with local, regional and international partners, it supports smallholder farmers to improve productivity, profitability, competitiveness and commercialisation jointly with the EAC Secretariat, the private sector and grassroots associates in multiple regions across East Africa.

The partnerships have included projects such as the Competitive Africa Rice Initiative, East Africa (CARI-EA) in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.  The project saw more than 202,500 smallholder rice farmers integrated into sustainable profitable supply chains and 22 business consortia established across East Africa.

Tanzania, where Kilimo has done a lot of work in rice, is racing to become Africa’s rice hub, first by meeting East Africa’s total rice demand. Ministry of Agriculture statistics show that Tanzania rice exports more than doubled from 184,521 metric tonnes in 2020 to 441,908 tonnes in 2021, with revenue increasing from TSh176.49 billion ($72 million) to TSh476.8 billion ($215 million).

Tanzania, now Africa’s fourth-largest producer of rice after Nigeria, Egypt and Madagascar, was among the top 20 rice producers in the world in 2020-21, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

R4iCSA II will continue with research done in the pilot phase that benefited 5,000 farmers in Kenya and Uganda, focusing on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, limited adoption of sustainable rice production practices, food and income security, and import substitution.

This evidence phase of the project seeks to reduce the pressure on wetlands and the underutilisation of rice by-products, says project leader Anthony Makona, describing it as a cornerstone of regenerative agriculture.

“It is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems focusing on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequesteration, increasing resilience to climate change and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil,” he said.

The writer is a journalist who comments on food security and agricultural development issues