LOCAL RICE VERSUS IMPORTED RICE
It is ironic that in West Africa – the rice belt of subSaharan
Africa (SSA) – although 20 million farmers
are engaged in rice farming and about 100 million
people depend on it directly for their livelihood, almost
all the cities of the region are flooded with imported
rice sold in bags labeled Thai rice, Indian rice, Uncle
Ben’s rice – everything except local rice.
Why doesn’t local rice find its way to the local
markets? Is it because there isn’t enough local
production? If so, why? Is there a lack of technology or
is the right technology not reaching farmers? Or does
the unavailability of local rice in the market mean that
imported rice is cheaper and local rice cannot compete
with it?
Studies by the Africa Rice Center (WARDA) show
that the issue of rice availability in SSA is complex and
should be viewed from a deeper perspective that takes
account of technology, policy, and socio-economics
factors within a purely African context.