Papa Abdoulaye Seck

Self-sufficiency policy and irrigated rice productivity in the Senegal River Valley

Senegal’s high dependence on rice imports exposes the country to international market shocks with concomitant serious risks for food security. Since 2011 and triggered by high international prices, several initiatives to upgrade the rice value chain have emerged in the private sector. However, the major constraint private investors are currently facing is the insufficient supply of Senegal River Valley (SRV) paddy rice, implying that investment in productivity is becoming vital for the continuation of their operations, which are currently running below their optimum. The Senegalese government is investing heavily in the national rice sector, with the ambitious objective of achieving self-sufficiency in the year 2015. However, the program focuses primarily on extension of the area grown rather than increased productivity. We provide econometric support for policy making by assessing the determinants of productivity and technical efficiency in irrigated rice production systems through a five-year panel dataset of small-scale irrigated rice farms in the SRV. We found that due to the exacerbation of biological and institutional constraints in the SRV, rice growers had difficulties in maintaining productivity of their land. These constraints prevented them from further intensification, jeopardizing the national objective of self-sufficiency. Farmers exhibited modest technical efficiency levels, suggesting that, in addition to the proposed intensification strategies, substantial efforts in extension services will be required in order to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency. Improved weed and bird control as well as technological, organizational and institutional improvements were identified as key factors for boosting productivity and technical efficiency and, hence, these are target areas needing attention by Senegalese farmers and policy makers in their quest for increased food security.

Price transmission analysis using threshold models: an application to local rice markets in Benin and Mali

In most African countries, spatial dispersion of production and consumption often results in high transaction costs that prevent farmers from accessing markets and causes asymmetry in price transmission. The objective of this study was to provide the baseline information on local rice price transmission between paired producer and consumer markets in Benin and Mali. To achieve this, we used Enders and Siklos’s threshold models on monthly price series from 2000 to 2010 to examine the nature of price transmission between selected markets in the surplus zones and the nearest important consumption markets. The results for Benin indicated that price transmission between markets in the surplus zone and the consumption markets was asymmetric, probably because of the prevalence of high transaction costs. These results showed that increases in price in the surplus-zone market were more quickly transmitted to the consumer market than decreases in price. Conversely, the results for Mali indicated symmetric price transmission between the market in the surplus zone and the consumer market, suggesting the prevalence of lower transaction costs. These results highlight the need for policies aiming to lower transaction costs observed in selected local rice markets in Benin. Specific policies, such as investment in public infrastructure, e.g. roads, could promote the vertical integration of local rice production with marketing. This would be crucial to achieving rice farmers’ food security and hence their wellbeing.

Realizing Africa's rice promise: priorities for action.

424 (eds M.C.S. Wopereis et al.) There are the producers and manufacturers of inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides) and machinery, and the traders who sell these, while on the post-production side, there are processors, traders, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. This book deals with a diverse range of topics that are all of relevance to realizing ‘Africa’s rice promise’, defined in the Introduction: ‘Africa has sufficient land and water resources to produce enough rice to feed its own population and, in the long term, generate export revenues’. This concluding chapter brings together the main ideas presented in this book and traces a way forward to develop Africa’s rice sector in a sustainable and equitable manner. We will discuss a number of priorities that are grouped in four main action areas:

Farmers’ rice knowledge and adoption of new cultivars in the Tillabéry region of western Niger

BackgroundTillabéry is the main rice growing region of Niger, and it includes both irrigated and lowland rice. Rice production has stagnated due to several factors this research investigated through farmers’ eyes.MethodsSemi-structured group discussions were carried out in 14 villages in which 153 farmers, after giving their informed consent, were individually subjected to a questionnaire, and farmers’ fields and storage facilities were visited.ResultsFields were larger in private irrigation and lowland agrosystems compared to those in public irrigation schemes. The local farmers’ union was the only formal seed dissemination system. Farmers exchanged seed as well as did re-seeding of leftovers from the previous harvest. They indicated Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) and bacterial leaf blight (BLB) as the most prevalent biotic stresses in the irrigated agrosystems, but the RYMV-susceptible cultivars IR1529 and ‘Waihidjo’ are still the most popular varieties. Floods, birds, and hippopotamuses were the most damaging agents in lowland agrosystems where the landrace ‘Degaulle’/D5237 was the preferred cultivar.ConclusionsRice farmers in the region of Tillabéry were aware of the RYMV, could provide good descriptions of its symptoms, but could not establish the real causes of the disease nor its relationship with insects’ prevalence and other cultural practices. However, traditional management strategies were implemented to reduce RYMV epidemics. This situation showed that farmers in the region of Tillabéry were willing to face RYMV epidemic outbreaks while growing their preferred rice cultivars. Good seed availability and absence of seed policy at the time of this study were also detected as bottlenecks in rice production increase in Tillabéry.

Designing innovative agriculture policies in Africa

The year 2010 had a special significance for Africa. For most of its countries, it marked the fiftieth anniversary of their independence. In our view, such a milestone is reason enough to examine the performance of African Agriculture.