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| In Zambia, rice is grown mostly by small scale farmers |
As urbanization is constantly changing people’s food preferences,
rice is a favorite alternative to nhsima
in some Zambian homes. The aromatic varieties such as Nakonde, Chama and Mongu
rice are the most popular among consumers. With expected population growth and
per capita consumption, the increase in the demand for rice is inevitable.
According to the Second National Rice Development Strategy
(2016 – 2020), Zambia has been producing about 44,500MT of paddy rice annually,
(ie about 29,000MT in milled rice).But
consumption stands at 60,000MT – indicative of a large deficit.
The Strategy further states that in recent years, Zambia has
been importing between 5,000 – 20,000MT of milled rice mostly from East Asia.
However, the country has the potential for large scale rice
production if deliberate efforts are made to address the challenges that many
rice farmers – most of who are small scale – are facing.
Among some of the significant challenges these farmers confront
is limited access to high quality seed, poor post-harvest practices and insufficient
infrastructure.
Elly Siakasasa is the CEO of the Zambia Rice Federation, an
organization that was formed to be the voice of active players in the rice
value chain.
