Chronicle of raw materials

Africa increasingly hungry for imported rice

Audio 01:37

African production remains confined to rice cultivation by small producers, who seek to guarantee their consumption and who struggle to market their surplus due to the lack of an appropriate distribution network.

© CC0 Pixabay/Contributor

By: Marie-Pierre Olphand Follow

2 mins

Africa could import 20 million tons of rice this year.

And double by 2035 according to forecasts.

A growing demand, while local rice production is struggling to scale up.

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For several weeks now, Africa has been increasing purchases on the rice market.

African importers are taking advantage of relatively stable Indian rice prices to replenish their stocks.

The continent's need for imported rice is revised upwards this year, according to the monthly Osiriz rice market newsletter, and could amount to 20 million tonnes.

That is 3 million tons more than last year.

In question, a growing demand in urban centers, but also a local production which is stagnating.

For climatic reasons first: the increasing droughts are a real brake on rice cultivation.

The other reason is the lack of means to fight against the birds that attack the rice fields.

Faced with this threat from the sky which sometimes leads to the loss of half of production, banks and insurers are cautious.

Rice farmers are therefore forced to minimize production costs, and yields inevitably stagnate, explains Patricio Mendez del Villar, economist at the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD)

“Insufficient state support”

The other limit to local production is the States' lack of real commitment, beyond electoral promises.

"

 To buy social peace, and guarantee a supply of rice at affordable prices, governments tend to bet on imported rice more than on investments that will be profitable in 10 or 20 years, 

" notes a rice trader.

" 

The great talk of self-sufficiency in rice is too often contradicted by the facts 

", adds our interlocutor, who insists: "

rice is not a job that can be left to private individuals, the State must support them in the medium and long term for the projects to be viable

”.

In fact, African production remains confined to rice cultivation by small producers, who seek to guarantee their consumption and who struggle to market their surplus due to the lack of an appropriate distribution network.

Shortcomings that explain why most African rice-producing countries are also importing more and more rice.

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