7 billion neighbors

Africa at the rice challenge

Audio 48:30

Bags of 100 kilos of rice are sold in a shop in Mali.

Getty Images - john pictures

By: Emmanuelle Bastide

1 min

The African continent is a big consumer of rice, it is also the main source of food energy in West Africa according to AfricaRice, the Rice Center for Africa.

A very large majority of countries cultivate it, yet production is still largely insufficient to cover population growth. 

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This year could also be a record year with imports estimated in 2022 at 20 million tonnes, or 40% of world rice trade.

In question, poor harvests linked to climatic hazards, a recurring lack of fertilizer accentuated in particular by the covid crisis and more recently by the war in Ukraine.

If for the moment, the price of rice resists in comparison to the surge of other raw materials such as wheat, this increase in imports could end up being felt on the plates of African consumers.

And faced with the self-sufficiency objectives announced by many states, the results are long overdue.

Why do African countries fail to structure their rice sectors in the face of Asian competition?

Is self-sufficiency realistic and desirable?  

With :

Patricio Mendez Del Villar

, economist at

, and editor of the

Marie-Pierre Olphand

, journalist at RFI, presenter of the

Baba Diallo

, CEO of

, a rice-growing company based in Thiagar in Senegal near the Mauritanian border.

Yacouba Dembele

, Director General of the

Musical programming:

► 

– Didi B

► 

 - Mbosso 

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