Rome, Italy
July 15, 2008
When one imagines an African
landscape, wherever it may be, images of rice paddies are not
normally the typical scenery one conjures up. But understanding
the role of rice in the recent displays of public unrest in some
of the continent’s poorest countries is key to developing a
sustainable, long-term solution to the crisis of high food
prices on a global scale.
“FAO’s Initiative on soaring
food prices initially concentrated on those countries where
people were demonstrating over the cost of not just any food,
but the price of rice,” said Robert Guei, Agricultural Officer
with the FAO’s Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service.
“When I was growing up in Côte d’Ivoire, I ate rice every day.
It is what many people eat every day, it is the staple food
across the region,” he said.
So when the price of rice by March about doubled in some West
African countries over a year, people were struggling to buy the
food they needed to eat, even if in theory there was no
shortage.
According to FAO data, in the 22 member countries of the Africa
Rice Center (WARDA), demand for rice was calculated at about 16
million tonnes in 2006. Of that, domestic production provided
some 11 million tonnes. About 6 million tonnes were imported to
make up the difference at the then lower price of US$1.2 billion
per year. Domestic production in West Africa, though increasing,
is continuously outstripped by growth in rice consumption in the
region.
Quick, easy and cheap, until now
Especially in the cities, centres of burgeoning populations also
arriving from the countryside, working people have a particular
penchant for rice in that it frees them from the daily grind of
preparing more labour-intensive meals. Growth in rice
consumption is in part a matter of convenience.
“With tubers such as cassava, or plantains, there is a problem
of storage. A woman has to go to the market every day to get the
food fresh, or it goes off. Then she has to pound it, boil it,
and go through a whole process that can take hours just to get a
proper meal,” Mr Guei explained.
Rice, he said, is bought in a bag that can keep for months on
the shelf, and in just a half hour or so, it is ready to eat. So
it allows women to go to school, take care of children, or have
an economic activity that can improve her and her family’s
standard of living as well.
But such progress is threatened by the region’s reliance on
imported rice, and thus, the vulnerability to international
price swings that have left rice prices locked out of reach for
many people this year. Prices of rice have fallen somewhat as
exporting countries loosen export controls, but it is generally
accepted that the high prices are here to stay for many years.
An imposed decline
“From 1970 until 1978, when I was a kid, there was a state
company in Côte d’Ivoire that ensured farmers received certified
seed for each planting. The company would give you a loan to buy
the seed, they provided extension services to train people in
the best techniques in raising their crops, and when it was
harvest time, they provided support and bought the whole crop,
which also paid back the loan,” Mr Guei recalled.
The Government would also pay to construct proper storage
facilities, and invested huge sums in building and maintaining
irrigation systems, he added. African countries saw it as a
fundamental food security matter and secured national food
supplies for their people.
In the 1980s, Mr Guei said, these countries were advised by
international institutions to phase out government involvement
in the agricultural sector. The private sector, it was
theorized, would steadily step in and the free market would take
over. But that did not happen.
“In agriculture, some support is needed, however. Agriculture in
most developed countries is heavily subsidized, and for certain
aspects this is necessary,” said Mr Guei.
According to senior FAO Economist Concha Calpe, when those
subsidized products are exported, the small-scale producers
cannot possibly compete. Their products are no longer competing
on an equal footing.
“In addition, as part of the WTO negotiations, developing
countries including those in Africa agreed to lower their tariff
and non-tariff barriers to trade and agreed to allow imported
goods to enter local markets,” Ms Calpe said.
“This whole mechanism is jeopardized by the decisions of some
exporting countries to restrict supplies,” she explained.
Risky Business
“In West Africa, production of rice seed is not good business.
Rice and most African crops are not hybrid crops, which means
they are not profitable for private companies,” She said. So the
private sector did not bite.
“With non-hybrid seed, once you give a farmer the seed, he can
then produce a crop and keep a seed supply for the next year. So
it is a one-off deal.”
Private sector companies in fact deal mostly in hybrids because
after one harvest, the farmer has to go back to the seed
supplier year after year. Though seed is produced from hybrids,
yields drop drastically, to half or even a third of what the
first seed produced.
According to Ms Calpe, seed production, for this reason, is one
of the many areas in agriculture that needs to be subsidized,
especially for smallholder farmers. They do not have the
resources to independently provide the inputs in what is
decidedly a risky business with no guarantees.
Ramping up seed production
West African countries requesting assistance under the FAO
Initiative for Soaring Food Prices in large part signalled a
need for support in rice production, but the fact is that rice
seed was in short supply because of the deterioration in the
seed systems.
FAO is leading an emergency rice initiative to ramp up seed
production wherever possible during the rainy season in August,
and again in the dry season that begins in November in areas
with adequate irrigation systems. For the first crop in spring
2009, the seeds will be in place for increased output.
Once production is boosted, high prices hold the promise of
finally allowing farmers to profit from rice, and to further
invest.
WARDA is FAO’s main
partner in the ongoing work, but others working jointly on the
project for sustainable revitalization of the sector include the
International Center for Soil Fertility (IFDC), Catholic Relief
Services (CRS), the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), the International Rice Research Institute,
Banque ouest-africaine de développement (BOAD), the US
Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and local farmers organizations and
NGOs. |
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