Estimating Yield Gaps and Potential Rice Production in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rice consumption in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is increasing rapidly due to population growth and changing consumer patterns due to urbanization. Currently about 40 to 50% of rice demand needs to be covered by imports, despite a tremendous potential to grow rice in Africa, because of large yield gaps and abundant land and water resources. In 2007-2008 high rice prices on the world market caused major social unrest. As a result of this ‘rice crisis’, African governments embarked on ambitious programs to boost their rice production capacity. The production growth rate in SSA increased from 3.2% per year before the rice crisis (2000–2007) to 8.4% per year after the rice crisis (2007–2012). Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) studied USDA data related to rice yield from 1960-2012 in 23 countries to examine trends in rice yields and identify their underlying causes. Within the framework of the Global Yield Gap Atlas project, AfricaRice and partners estimate yield gaps of rice at sub-national unit level in eight SSA countries. Furthermore, AfricaRice and national agricultural research systems established an ‘Africa-wide Rice Agronomy Task Force’ in Nov. 2011 to boost rice production in SSA through the development and introduction of good agricultural practices (GAPs). Yield gap surveys have been conducted in 19 countries since 2012 to identify factors limiting and reducing rice productivity. We present results from these different studies and discuss their implications for boosting Africa’s rice production.