FAO determines to increase rice production in Africa by 2018

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has collaborated with Coalition for Africa Rice Development (CARD) to increase rice production in Africa by 2018, a statement issued in Accra on Friday said.

The project, which is compatible with FAO’s programme for the Region aimed at promoting sustainable intensification of rice production, is referred to as “GCP/INT/053/JPN.”

To this end the FAO is to facilitate regional workshops on rice and aquaculture to produce and increase their market development for West and Eastern African countries, the release said.

It added that the workshop, which is expected to provide the opportunity for experts to share key technologies and programmes of action as well as strengthen capacity of Ghanaian aquaculture farmers for competitive and sustainable development, is scheduled for Accra on August 9-13.

“Rice is considered as a major food commodity with high potential within the sub-region for which is the necessity to expand its production in West African countries,” the statement said.

It added that support for sustainable increase for rice production for food security was a major concern to FAO.

It is recalled that at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICADIV) held in Japan on May 2008, the authorities launched the CARD to support efforts of African countries to increase rice production.

Under the same facility, a project nicknamed the “Aquaculture Strategic Framework: Special Programme for Aquaculture Development in Africa” (SPADA) had been developed to underscore the importance of aquaculture in the African Regions as well as develop actions for judicious exploitation of the currently underutilised resources in the region.

Through regional workshops on rice and aquaculture production, the preparation of National Rice Development Strategy and the National Aquaculture Development Strategy (NRDS) and the National Aquaculture Development Strategy (NADS) were initiated by 12 CARD-compliant countries including Ghana.

Source: GNA