05 and 2006, the lowest level since 1983 and 1984. The report also showed that the stock represents less than two months of global consumption, while half of the reserves is currently held by China.

Participants at the third annual meeting of WARDA held in Republic of Benin, last Thursday expressed deep concern about the current world rice situation fearing that a crisis may soon occur if nothing is done to increase the current level of rice reserves.

The situation also poses serious implications for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly Nigeria, which consumes the highest volume of rice within the region. Industry sources believe since Nigeria is about one-fifth of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, it may be the worst hit.

It noted that world rice consumption continued to outstrip rice production and rice prices "are rising and are expected to double in the next couple of years".

Papa Abdoulaye Seck, director general of WARDA, said the current world rice situation has serious implications, particularly for SSA, because about 40 per cent of the region’s demand for rice is met by imports.

With only 13 per cent of world population, Africa accounts for 32 per cent of world rice imports, which makes it a big player in the international rice trade. In 2006, SSA imported more than 9.0 million tonnes of rice worth an estimated N254 billion (US$ 2 billion).

Explaining that only seven per cent of the total world rice production is traded, WARDA economist, Aliou Diagne, said that this supply was too limited for SSA to rely on for its growing rice demand. "SSA should urgently reconsider its rice import policy to avoid the looming crisis."

"African national rice economies will increasingly become exposed to unpredictable external supply and price shocks," Diagne remarked, referring to the recent warning by the World Bank that the current rise in prices of cereals and the low level of global reserves could unleash widespread food riots in Africa. The prices of rice have already gone up in Thailand and Vietnam, the traditional rice exporters to Africa.

Africa has an immense untapped potential for rice production. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization,(FAO), an agency of the United Nations, the paddy (unhulled rice) production in Africa has gone up for the sixth consecutive year, reaching 21.6 million tonnes in 2006.

But with rice consumption in West Africa – the rice belt of Africa – doubling every nine years, the challenge of keeping up with production is immense.

The workshop participants emphasised that African governments should give adequate support to small farmers who form the majority of rice producers in SSA. Smallholder rice farmers in the region have been facing unfair competition from subsidised rice imports.

Pascal Gbenou from the Network of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organisations of West Africa (ROPPA) said that rice continues to be one of the most protected commodities in every region except in West Africa.

Gbenou urged the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) to adopt a higher level of the common import tariff (TEC) for agricultural products, because the current TEC level applied by UEMOA has a detrimental effect on the sub-region’s agricultural sector in general and on rice in particular.

In his response, Kolado Bocoum from UEMOA stated that UEMOA was revisiting the TEC issue and that its agricultural policy would greatly benefit from inputs from specialised structures like WARDA.

"Right policies are indeed essential to make African rice sector competitive," said Akande Oyetunji, Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER).

"We are witnessing how the recent rice policy adopted by Nigeria as part of the Presidential Rice Initiative have boosted the country’s rice sector," Oyetunji said. Nigeria’s rice production was nearly four million tonnes in 2006, 10 per cent above the 2005 level.

Moreover, Nigeria was able to reduce its rice imports in 2005 by over 800,000 tonnes, thanks to the strong measures taken by the government to increase domestic rice production and decrease rice imports.

WARDA economists think that the availability of cheap imported rice has until now provided a ready excuse for many SSA governments to neglect the domestic rice production.

The Group, which was established three years ago, serves as a channel for transmitting policies to promote the rice sector in West Africa and its goal is to improve the impact of policy research and institutional arrangements on the competitiveness of the rice sector in the region.

In addition to WARDA economists, the meeting was attended by experts in rice economics and policy from Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali as well as representatives from the UEMOA, Oxfam and farmers’ organisations.