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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.
She added that rice farming technologies are also lacking among many farmers.
She added that rice farming technologies are also lacking among many farmers.
“We grow rice in the flood plains so when weeds grow high
and the waters come in, it’s very difficult to weed - is there any technology
we can apply?...Also because it is in the plains, it is very difficult to
fertilize - is there any other technology that we can do that then can push
this commodity crop to grow with vigor and give us the yield that we want,” Ms.
Siakasasa said.
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| Rice grows best in dambos and plains |
Most rice farmers do not use appropriate post-harvest
practices resulting in poor quality of polished rice. Such poor farming
practices entail that farmers’ access to markets and consequently returns on
their investment are limited.
Limited market access continues to be a major challenge to
small scale farmers growing various commodities other than rice. While
infrastructure such as roads and storage facilities are a leading impediment,
farmers’ inability to consistently supply the quantities or quality required on
the market required is also a pertinent issue.
In response to the mentioned challenges and others, the
Ministry of Agriculture collaborated with the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) to develop an initiative to boost rice production and
productivity; as well as develop an organized market system for the crop.
The initiative called the Rice Dissemination Project (RDP)
was established in 2015 and targeted at Luapula, Western, Eastern and
North-Western provinces which are leading rice producing areas. The Project’s
main objective was to establish an efficient extension system for rice
production in Zambia.
It was being implemented using the lead-farmer approach in
which agronomic practices and; harvest and post-harvest rice technologies were
imparted to small-scale farmers by training lead farmers.
Through this initiative, farmer’s access to high quality
seed has been enhanced as well as improved best farming practices. This year,
the Project launched a Rice Extension Package (REP) in order to strengthen the
linkages between farmers and; research and extension.
“In the past two years, the Project has trained 436
extension staff …the trained officers conducted 308 rice demonstrations in the
lead farmers and follower farmers. In total 4,788 farmers were trained in rice
production,” said Peter Lungu who is Director of Agriculture in the Ministry of
Agriculture.
He added that the development of the extension manual
package was intended to increase information dissemination on rice production.
The package comprises of 6 manuals which include: a production
and extension manual, teaching materials for farmer and extensions worker; and
guidelines for rice cultivation in research stations among other things.
JICA Assistant Resident Representative Yoji Matsui explained
that the extension package is at the basis of at enabling the transfer of
technologies from researchers to the farmers. The ultimate goal is to increase
the production of rice as a cash crop
“The Project will focus on several areas of potential new
rice clusters…another output will be facilitating and promoting communication
between farmer and market stakeholders so that the farmer can identify what process of cultivation must be improved
to [earn an increased rice price],” Mr. Matsui explained.
Extension services are the direct link to farmers and hence
are central in disseminating appropriate technologies and research information
to the farmers. Improved productivity can only be achieved through the adoption
of best farming practices.
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